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THE TAMING OF THE SIOUX 



The 
TAMING OF THE SIOUX 



FRANK FISKE 




BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA 



BISMARCK TRIBUNE 






CoPYKiGHT, 1917 By Frank B. Fiske 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
PUBLLSHED APRn> 1917 



All Photographic Reproductions 
Fully Protected by Copyi-ig-ht. 



J 



-5 1317 
)ci.A4n7:j30 



TO MY CANTE SKUYA (heart sweet) 



EXPLANATORY 

No historian of prominence should presume to ask the 
public to take his work as the last word on the subject 
which it treats. There is bound to be some one who will 
find inaccuracies and deficiencies, and the whole work 
may be condemned on account of them. There never was 
a history written that is absolutely correct, so I suppose 
mine must be a little off on a few trivial matters. A deep 
student of the ethnology, phonology, psychology and an- 
thropology of the Sioux may (I say ma}^ advisedly) find 
these defects. To him I offer no apologies, he has enough 
ologies now, and I don't wish to burden him with more 
of them. 

History is essentially didactical, indeed it is, and we soon 
tire of its prosiness, its unpicturesque display of data 
and long-winded statistics. However, there are some in- 
dividuals wlio are ultra-pedantic, and to whom nothing 
appeals but what is strictly utilitarian. To such persons 
I commend certain parts of this work, while to the others 
— the great majority — the balance of it may prove enter- 
taining. Tlie absence of humor I greatly deplore, for it 
just seems that I cannot think up anythin' funny. But the 
reader may find a great deal to laugh about after all, if he 
is inclined to be critical. 

The old timers, God bless 'em, always take an important 
part in an historical work. But they seldom agree with 
each other. There is a psychological reason for this, as 
there is for most anvthinji' we do not clearlv understand. 



My explanation of it is that they do not remember things 
with the same degree of aeeiiracy and reasoning ])ower, 
Tlieii' view points were no! identical, so they came away 
from the scene of liistorical interest witli a conception 
of what ha])pened at variance with what other survivors 
retained. Some day a liistorian may succeed in straighten- 
ing these much mooted matters out, but I have neither 
the time nor the ])atience to do it. As it is I am present- 
ing in this work an entertaining and very nearly com- 
plete account of The Taming Of The Sioux. 

Tli(^ illustraticms are from original negatives made by 
me, and the drawings are by my young friend Fiancis 
Zahn (Holy Stai-), a part Sioux of great talent. 

Frank Fiske. 
Old Fort Vates, X. D. 
March 1st, 1917. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

Explanatory 11 

The Dakota Sioux 17 

Early Day Costniues, Etc 25 

The Outbreak of '62 ... 45 

The Campaign of 1863 55 

Other Forts and Fights 61 

Standing Eock and Fort Yates 85 

The Coming of the Railroad 87 

The Passing of Custer 99 

The Beginning of a New Order of Things 125 

The Religion of the Sioux 137 

The Messiah Craze 117 

The I )eath of Sitting Bull 165 

The Battle of \Vounded Knee 171 

The Sioux Indian of Today 179 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Old S^ioux Woman and Dog Travois, described by 

5 

/ 



Lewis and Clark (Fronticepiece) 5 



Standing Kock Monument 21 

Tipis, of Sionx, with designs depicting valorous deeds 

in days gone by 33 *^ 

Standing Rock and Fort Yates, as it was at the time 

of the death of Sitting Bull, 1890 41^ 

Venerable Sioux Woman, who has witnessed the 
transition of her people from a wild and war- 
like tribe to the present day Eedman who loves / 
peace and knows how to vote 49 

Model Sioux Camp, which shows how the little "A" 
tents of the Whitemau have replaced the pic- 
turesque tipi of the old Sioux 65 :^ 

Two Shields 73^ 

Gray Hawk 81 ^ 

Sioux Indians Dancing 97 ^ 

Rain-in-the-Face 105 

Loon, a young Sioux 113 ^ 



ILLUHTUATl(mi<— Continued 

Page 

Mother Can yiii^ Her l»apoose, in the old time way, 
but with a shawl made by up-to-date machinery 
in a New England Mill ^1^21/ 

Blue Thunder, scout and camp crier 129 ^ 

Red Tomahawk, actual slayer of Sitting Bull 135 - 

John Grass, Sioux Chief -^-^v 

A Sioux Woman -101 , 

Ibl i^ 



THE TAMING OF THE SIOUX 

THE DAKOTA SIOUX 

Long ago, in the summer of 1804, the United States 
government sent ont an expedition under Captain Meri- 
wether Lewis and Captain William Clark, to explore the 
Louisiana Territorj^ and trace the Missouri River to its 
source, cross the Rocky Mountains and visit the country 
on the Pacific coast. By means of three flat-bottomed 
boats, the party, which consisted of forty-four men, toiled 
slowly up the winding Missouri, cordelling or pulling the 
boats along the banks by long ropes, and using oars and 
sails when the conditions allowed, and fighting mos- 
quitoes, cussing the heat and drinking whiskey as only a 
voyageur can. 

At the confluence of the James and Missouri Rivers, 
where the city of Yankton now stands, they met the first 
band of Sioux Indians. They were Yankton Sioux, and 
they were not in a very prosperous condition at the time, 
and they complained about it to the explorers, almost in- 
sinuating that it was their fault. Firearms had not been 
introduced among them to any extent, and they used 
snares, and bows and arrows for the procuring of game. 
If they wished to make a fire it was accomplished by rub- 
bing two pieces of wood together until the friction pro- 
duced sufficient heat to ignite the kindling wood. They 
carried fire with them, or preserved it, by means of a 
species of rotten wood which held it for some time, and 



i8 Taming of the Sioux 



as they had no horses, their daily journey was not far 
and depended on how long the fire held out. They car- 
ried water in roughly hewn wooden bowls, or more often 
in pouches made of the paunch of a dead buffalo. By in- 
serting a stick crosswise it assumed the shape of a bowl, 
and was quite a handy article about the tipi. When they 
made soup, which was very often, they put the necessary 
ingredients into the pouch, and dropped red-hot rocks 
therein until the contents had boiled sufficiently. It was 
the only way it could be done, as the pouch could not 
be placed upon the fire, and anyway, they usually had 
plenty of time in which to prepare a meal, 

A rare delicacy with them was, as it is to this day, the 
"mice feed" which is gathered from the storehouses of 
the mice people of the woods. It consists of nuts of vari- 
ous kinds, including the native wild bean, and is very 
good eating, so they say. 

But the Sioux of those days, as well as some of the old 
timers of the present day, were very fond of the sweet 
and succulent meat of the animal of the Canidae family, 
the caninus, docga, all of whicli means plain dog. This 
animal is well known to the whites, but in very few in- 
stances have they availed themselves of its food proper- 
ties. When well cooked, the meat cannot be distinguished 
from that of a rabbit, providing, of course, that the dog 
was not too old at the time of its demise. There are many 
tales of whitemen gorging themselves on it while partak- 
ing of the hospitality of an Indian camp, and being in 
total ignorance of what they were eating, enjoyed it. But 
when thej^ found out about it, they got peeved, angry and 

\ 



The: Dakota Sioux 19 

even sick over it. All of which proves that some individ- 
uals are utterly without the sense of appreciation, and 
should have been taught to refrain from giving oft'ense to 
those who have graciously extended their hospitality. 

Much speculation has been indulged in as to whence 
came the Sioux. Some students assert that they are of 
Asiatic origin, while others claim that they are distinctly 
Causcasian and came west from the shores of the Atlantic 
Ocean. But as there is little to be gained by pursuing 
this question further, we may as well take up the subject 
with the first authentic history we have about them. 

In the year 1640, Paul le Jeune, a Jesuit priest, came 
over from France to bring the tidings of Christianity to 
the redmen in the wilderness of America, and one day he 
wrote a letter to his superior, Vimont, in which he said 
that a certain interpreter by the name of Jean Nicolet 
told him of a tribe of Indians living west of the Winne- 
bagos, of Wisconsin, and were called Nadoussi. This was 
the name given them by the Ojibwas, or Chippewas, of 
the Lake Superior region. For several years this was all 
that was known about one of the greatest tribes on the 
American continent, but later French explorers visited 
these Indians and pluralized the name, making it Nadu- 
wessioux, and this is about all they did. Tlien the word 
was found to be too long for comfort and it was contract- 
ed b}' the busy adventurers of the time to Sioux, which 
rhymes with do and you. 

"Living west of the Winnebagos," means that they lived 
in the northern part of Minnesota, about the many lakes 
of that region, and along the upper Mississippi River. 



20 



Taming oi' 'riii-; Sioux 



They were constantly on tlic xNarpath with the Chippewas, 
whom they hehl in clieck until the French traders began 
fiirnishinii- tlie ('hip])ewas with firearms, when the Sioux 
were j^raduaily forced to move south out of the great 
woods country of Minnesota. The first to go were given 
the name of Tetonwans, or people who dwell upon the 
prairie. The next to emigrate were the Yauktons, which 
is a contraction of the word E-hankton-wan, and means 
to live at the farther end ; they settled in Iowa. Then the 
Wakpekutes and the Wahpetons, which names signify 
people who liunt and live among the leaves, moved down 
and located on tlie Minnesota I\iver, and with them went 
the Sissefons, or those foolisli beings who camp in the 
swam])s. Tlie last of the original band to leave the par- 
ental home w illioiil any i)arents, were the M'dewakantous, 
or people of llic sacred lake, an<l they camped about the 
beautiful falls of St. Anthony, in 17(50. Little did they 
think that a great multituiic of ]>ale faces would come 
in little more than a hundred years to build the splendid 
city of Minn('aiK)lis there. 

After Mandcring from ])lace to })lace the Tetonwans 
moved west to the ]\Iissoui-i Kivei-, where they found game 
plentiful, and the timlxM-ed hends of the great stream af- 
fordiMJ ample shcltci- from the cold l)lasts of winter, 
though the Indians were pleased to lind that during most 
of the winters the sn(>w did not lay so deep as it does 
in the land Ironi which they came. Keaching back on 
both sides of the liver lay an unbroken ])rairie land on 
which the grass grew in pi-of'usi(Mi and ov(M- whi<'h the 
bulValo roamed in vast nundiers, and \ho\ were happy. 



The Dakota Sioux 



21 




;TAXD1XG liOCK .MuNL-MKXT 



22 Taming of the Sioux 

The Arickaree Iiidians had, lioiii time immemorable, 
lived along the Missouri, in settlements of round sod 
houses built in the form of a fort, and at the time of the 
arrival of the Sioux, their principal and southernmost 
fort was near the i)resent city of Pierre. Tlie Tetons 
(short for Tetonwans ) made war upon these peaceable 
Indians, and after tliirtv years of desultory fighting,, drove 
them north to a jioint above the mouth of the Grand 
Kiver. wliere now the Milwaukee railroad, and one of the 
great cross country automobile trails crosses the Mis- 
souri River in tlieir Hight to the Pacific coast. During 
the years that followed, the Pees were constantly liar- 
rassed by the Sioux, and they were finally forced to move 
farther and farther up the river until they took their 
last stand at Fort Perthold, where they may be found 
today, living in peace with the Mandans and Gros Ventres. 

The Yanktous, of which there w^ere two bands, one 
called the Yanktous and the other the Y^anktonais, came 
out to the Missouri Piver country back in 1765-G6, and 
located in the James Piver valley not far from the Mis- 
souri. It was a fine land of good grass, timber and water 
and the tribe prosi)ered there, in a way, and counted not 
the days in their passing. This makes seven bands men- 
tioned, and they are known as the Dacotah, or Dakota 
Sioux, which stands for allied Sioux, as they spoke a 
common tongue and were not hostile to each other. As 
the years rolled on these bands, too, became separated 
into various groups, each under its particular chief, and 
thus A\e now have such baiuls as the Uncpapa, Oglala, 



Early Day Costumes, e;tc. 



23 



Santee, Blackfeet, Cuthead, Two Kettle, and several oth- 
ers too numerous to mention, all belonging to the great 
Sionx nation. 




Early Day Costumes, etc. 25 



EARLY DAY COSTUMES, CUSTOMS, TREATIES 
AND TRIBULATIONS 

In the diary of Lewis and Clark this description of the 
dress of the Sionx, as worn b}^ the Yanktons in 1804, is 
set forth. (The remarks within parenthesis are mine. F. 
F. ) "In full dress, the men of consideration wear a 
hawk's feather, or calumet feather worked with porcu- 
pine quills and fastened to the top of the head from which 
it falls back. The face and body are generally painted 
with a mixture of grease and coal." (The diary fails to 
state what the common men wore, but I suppose they 
were beneath the consideration of the chronicler. Thus 
far the description does not seem complete. There is 
surely something lacking. Of course a single feather in 
the hair, and some grease and coal rubbed on the body 
is better than nothing, but it would hardly do as a full 
dress suit to wear at a charity ball in the Avhiteman's coun- 
try. Still the pretty feather must have added dignity 
to the warrior's appearance, and the unguent likely had 
a sweet and soothing effect upon the hot and parched 
skin. Seeking more detailed information we find by read- 
ing further in the diary this gratifying news-^^ "Over 
the shoulders is a loose mantle of buffalo skin dressed 
white, adorned with porcupine quills loosely fixed, so as 
to make a jingling noise when in motion, (I have seen 
many a porcupine quill, alone and in large quantities, but 



26 Taming of the Sioux 

I have never heard them jiiiiile. However, thev may have 
done so a century ago) and ])ainled with various uncouth 
figures, unintelligible to us, but to them emblematic of 
military exploits or any other incident; the hair of the 
robe is worn next the skin in fair weather (rather 
scratchy, I fancy) but when it rains the hair is put on 
the outside, and the robe is either thrown over the arm 
or wrapped around the body, all of which it may cover. 
(Which it should.) Under this, in winter season, they 
wear a kind of skirt reseuibling ours, made either of 
skin or cloth, and covering the arms and body. Round 
the middle is fixed a girdle of cloth, or procured dressed 
elkskin, about an inch in widtli, and closely tied to the 
body; to this is attached a piece of cloth, or blanket, or 
skin, about a foot wide, which passes between the legs 
and is tucked under the girdle both before and behind. 
From the hip to the ankle is covered by leggins of dressed 
antelope skins with seams at the sides two inches wide, 
and ornamented with little tufts of hair, the produce 
of the scalps they have made in war, which are scattered 
down the leg. * * * q^ opeat occasions, or whenever 
they are in full dress, the young men drag after them the 
entire skin of a polecat fixed to the heel of the moccasin. 
( Tlii.s was prol)ably done for the purpose of attracting 
especial attention of tlie crowd to these vain young men. 
If one wishes to shine in society, or at any public gather- 
ing, I know of no metliod that sliould get (^nicker results 
lliaii 1<» wear tlic entire skin of a ])olecat tied to your 
heel. I Another skin of the same animal is tucked into 
file girdle oi- carried in the liand. (More vanitv) and 



Early Day Costumes, etc. 27 

serves as a poiieli for their tobacco, or what the French 
traders call hois roule. This is the iDiier bark of a species 
of red willow, which being dried in the sun or over the 
fire, is rubbed between the hands and broken into small 
pieces, and is nsed alone or mixed with tobacco. (It is 
now well known as kinnikinic, and is still nsed by the 
Indians.) The pipe is generally of red earth, the stem 
made of ash about three feet long, and highly decorated 
with feathers, hair and porcupine quills. (It will be ob- 
served that no mention is made of beadwork. The reason 
being that beads are manufactured by the whitemen, and 
at that time had not been introduced extensively among 
the Missouri River Indians by the traders who visited 
them each summer in keel boats pulled laboriously up 
river from St. Louis. ) The hair of the women is suffered 
to grow long, ( How strange ! ) and is parted from the fore- 
head across the head, at the back of which it is either 
collected into a kind of a bag, or hangs down on the 
shoulders. (That is to say, it was either done up or al- 
lowed to hang.) Their moccasins are like those of the 
men as are also the leggins, which do not, however, reach 
beyond the knees, where they are met by a long loose shift 
of skin, (How did he come to know all this?) which 
reaches nearh' to the ankles; this is fastened over the 
shoulders by a string and has no sleeves, but a fe^\ pieces 
of skin hang a short distance around the arms. Some- 
times a girdle fastens this skin around the waist, and 
over all is thrown a robe like that worn by the men. 
They seem fond of dress. (Funny women.) Their lodges 
ai'e very neatly constructed, * * * they are built, 



28 Taming of the Sioux 

round with poles, about fifteen or twenty feet high, cov- 
ered with white skins. These lodges may be taken to 
pieces, packed up and carried with the nation where ve?- 
they go, by dogs which bear great burdens." 

This gives us a very good ide;i of what the Sioux looked 
like, and how he lived in the early day before the white- 
man had come in contact with him. They have changed 
a great deal since then, vastly so. Now they wear the 
garb of tlie whiteman, and their Indian costumes have 
shown the influence of their association witli the whites. 
Their tipis, too, are no hmger the picturesque, conical 
attair, but have been almost totally discarded for the lit- 
tle "A" tents which are su])i)lied to them by the Indian 
traders. And horses liave long been in use, while today 
the Indian Avho can atford it rides in his automobile. 
Matches, too, are in general use, and it would be hard 
to fiiul an Indian wlio knows how to make a fire in the 
old time way. 

The young Indians of today are adept musicians. They 
can play well on the violin or nearly any brass luind in- 
strument, but in the days when Lewis and Clark journeyed 
among their great-grandfathers tlieir only musical in- 
struments were — ''tlie dniiii. and a sort of little bag made 
of buffalo hide, dressed while, with small shot or })ebbles 
in it, and a buncli of hair tied to it. This produces a 
sort of rattling music, with which the party was annoyed 
by four musicians during the council this morning." 

Evidently the explorers did not enjoy this serenade. 
But it was because they were not accustomed to it. It is 
tlie kind of music one must lenrn to like, just as we must 



EarIvY Day Costumes, etc. 29 

educate ourselves to appreciate our classic music. I know 
this, for anyone who has lived louj; among the Indians, 
enjoys no music better than the tom-tom and the dance or 
love song as it pulsates dreamily upon the evening air. 

In their council with the Yankton Indians, Chief Shake 
Hand had this to say : "I see before me my great father's 
two sons. You see me and the rest of our chiefs and 
warriors. We are very xH)Or; we have neither powder nor 
ball nor knives; and our women and children at the vil- 
lage have no clothes. I wish that as my brothers (mean- 
ing the explorers) have given me a liag and a medal, they 
would give something to those poor people, or let them 
stop and trade with the first boat that comes up the river. 
I will bring the chiefs of the Mahas and Pawnees together 
and make peace between them, but it is better that I 
should do it than mj father's sons, for they will listen 
to me moi-e readily. I will also take some chiefs to your 
country in the spring; but before that time I cannot leave 
home. I went formerly to the English and they gave me 
a medal and some clothes; when I went to see the Span- 
iards they gave me a medal, but nothing to keep it from 
my skin ; but now you give me a medal and clothes. But 
still we are i)Oor; and I wish, brothers, you would give lis 
something for our squaws." 

^'When he sat down, Mahtoree * * * rose: 'I liave 
listened,' he said, 'to Avhat our father's words were yes- 
terday; and I am today glad to see how you have dressed 
our old chief. I am a young man and do not wish to take 
mucli : my fatliers have made me a chief; I had much 
sense before, but now I think I liave more than ever. 



n 



30 Taming of the Sioux 

What the old chief lias declared I will <(tiitiiiii, aud do 
whatever he and you please; but I wish you would take 
pity on us for we are very poor.' 

"Another chief, called l*awnawneahpahbe then said :" 

but that's euouoh, we have heard all about their 

condition, and Chief — what's his name? — cannot tell us 
any more. All their smooth words have been for one 
purpose ; they wanted a good assortment of the attractive 
articles the explorers carried with them. One who has a 
long accpiaintance with Indians is constrained to assert 
that they were much better off than they pretended to be. 

And that speech of old Hhake-hand's was a brilliant 
piece of oratory. The first of it is a gem, aud bears repeat- 
ing: "I see before me my father's two sons. You see 
me and the rest of our cliiefs and warriors, etc." Could 
anything be more comprehensive and at the same time more 
pertinent? And from the rest of his speech we must 
infer that his people were not entirely satisfied with their 
lot. They never have been. Nowadays all Indians com- 
plain to their agents and llie great father in Washing- 
ton al)out certain things while they sigh and long 
for the good old times. In this respect it may be said 
that the Sioux enjoyed life better during the years be- 
tween 1830 and 1S7(> tlnin at any time in their existence. 
Superb in health and ])hysical strength, owing to their 
out-door life; e<|uip])ed by the traders with the best of 
firearms; mounted ui)on the fleetest of ponies, they roam- 
ed through the west, preying upon the foolish explorer 
and emigrant, and hunting down the cunning bison as he 
desported upon the boundless prairie. 



Early Day Costumes, etc. 31 

There must have been a pleasing profit in trading with 
the Indians in those days, judging from the way the deals 
were made. A gun of uncommonly long barrel, placed 
in an upright position with the butt end on the floor, was 
exchanged for as many butfalo robes as could be piled 
one on top of another until the end of the gun barrel was 
reached. Or for one buffalo robe, a small cup of sugar 
was given. And the Indian was satisfied. He did not 
know the value of these commodities of trade, and as for 
real money, it was utterly worthless in his sight. But he 
has learned a great deal since, thanks to the craftiness of 
those pioneer Indian traders. He knows the value of 
money now, though he still loves to spend it. And it is 
pretty hard to get the best of him on a bargain, so the 
Indian traders of today say. 

After the visit of Lewis and Clark to the Indians of 
the Missouri River, many important changes began to 
take place in the lives of these original Americans. Pre- 
vious to the War of 1812 the British still held a power- 
ful influence over the Indians of the Northwest, most of 
the traders being pro-English in sentiment. With the 
outbreak of war many of the Sioux Indians were induced 
to fight for the British, but the amount of actual service 
rendered was insignificant, the most of them deserting 
the English at Fort Stephenson, which was before San- 
dusky. In 1815 a treaty Avas made with the several Sioux 
tribes I have described. The meeting was held at Portage 
des Sioux, which was near the confluence of the Missouri 
and Mississippi Rivers. This was a treaty of vast im- 
portance, for by it these Indians swore allegiance to the 



32 Ta-mixg of the; Sioux 

United States. Americjin ludiaii traders began to oper- 
ate extensively anjoiig tlieiii, wiiile the government sent 
ont small expeditions from time to time, for the purpose 
of exploration and the erection of small forts. Fort 
Snelling was completed in ISi'O. and soon became the most 
important post in tlie nncsI. It was erected at tlie con- 
fluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers Avhere an 
influence could be exerted both upon the Sioux and Chip- 
pewa Indians who still maintained a constant warfare 
upon each other. The hostility of these tribes served 
more as a source of entertainment than for 'dnj other 
purpose. They seldom did each other much damage, 
while the continual state of warfare kept the young men 
keyed up to a high degree of fighting efficiency, and made 
life interesting for all members of the tribes. It must 
be remembered that this was in the days before motion 
picture shows and it a\ as necessary that the redmen of 
the woods and plains be furnished with some kind of 
amusement. It kei)t lliciu from giving up to internal 
dissensions such as the (piestion of woman suffrage, or 
the regulation of trusts. Tienl, abiding peace was not 
between the Sioux and Chippewa Indians until after the 
last of the Sioux were driven out of the State of Min- 
nesota at the close of lS(;i'. 

For nearly two centuries Catholic priests had been vis- 
iting and working among tlie Sioux, but they had met 
with small success. In is:i.~) the first Protestant mission- 
aries <;ime among them, :iii<l by dint of hard labor and 
mm h sacrifice, succeeded in converting a few, while lay- 
ing the foundation of a general acceptance of the Chris- 



Early Day Costumes, ere. 



33 



«a«ife^ 




34 Taming of the Sioux 

tiaii religion later on. The Catholics also began work in 
earnest, sending ont leather Kavonx who established a 
mission at St. Pan!, and visited the Missouri River In- 
dians in ]S42. Father DeSniet came out in 1849 and for 
many years did noble work among them. Of the Prot- 
estant missionaries the most renowned were Dr. Thomas 
S. Williamson and Kev. Stephen Return Riggs. These 
men did a wonderful amount of good work in introducing 
methods of cleanliness and right-living among the abor- 
iginies. Tlie\ reduced the Santee, Yankton and Teton dia- 
lects to English writing. They translated some of the 
books of the New Testament, and later compiled a Sioux 
Bible, a <lictionary, IMlgrim's Progress, a few hymn books 
and other literature. One cannot imagine the amount of 
painstaking work this re(iuired, for these men, to start 
with, had no knowledge of the Sioux tongue. They mas- 
tered the language in a very few years, while other men 
have lived a lifetime among the same Indians, even to 
mari-ying into the tribe, and today are hardly able to 
make themselves understood. Surely, ai)plication mixed 
with brains can accom]dish ]>rodigious results. 

During the summer of IS.")! a deal was made through 
treaty l»y (he United States government and the Sioux 
Indians of Minnesota, wherel)y some land exchanged 
hands. The amount involved was a tract containing .So,- 
00(),()0() acres, being the largest and best half of the great 
state of Minnesota. It meant the relinciuishment of all 
their lands lying east of the Bix Sioux River and a line 
running from Lake Kampeska to Lake Traverse and the 
Sioux Woods Rivei-s; this, it will be observed, took in a 



Early Day Costumes, etc. 35 

poitioii of Io^va, also. The price paid the happy Indians 
was about six cents an acre. AVith land in Minnesota 
and Iowa now held at from .flOO to |125 an acre, it ap- 
pears that it has enhanced some in value since then. 

In September of the same year a huge council was held 
at Fort Laramie, which it now in Wyoming. It was for 
the purpose of inducing the tribes of the plains to be- 
have and leave the gold seekers alone. It was at this time 
that a great rush of fortune hunters were making their 
way over the Overland or Oregon trail, and the Indians, 
along the route, resented their passage, claiming that 
they drove off the wild game, thus depriving the Indians 
from their accustomed source of food and buffalo robes. 
There were upwards of ten thousand Indians at this coun- 
cil, being members of the tribes of the Dakota Sioux, 
which have been named in this work, and the Cheyennes, 
Arapahoes, Assiniboines, Crows, Mandans, Arickarees 
and Gros Ventres. It lasted twenty-one days. Father De- 
Smet was there, and did a great deal of missionary work. 
His description of the council is interesting. He says in 
part : "During the twenty-three days of the assembly 
there was no disorder; on the contrary, all was peaceable 
and tranquil, which is saying much for Indians. The}' 
seemed all to form but a single nation. Polite and kindly 
to each other, they spent their leisure hours in visits, ban- 
quets and dances; spoke of their once interminable wars 
and divisions as past things to be absolutely forgotten, 
or 'buried,' to use their expression. * * * it was 
really touching to see the calumet, the Indian emblem of 
peave, raised heavenward by the hand of a savage, pre- 



36 Taming of the Sioux 

seuting it to the Master of Life and imploriug his pity 
upon all of his cliildren on eartli and begging him to con- 
lirni the resolutions they had made. (Rather broad-mind- 
ed praise for a missionary to make, but Father DeSniet 
was a great man, F. F. ) * * *'' No epoch in Indian 
annals i)robably shows a greater massacre of the canine 
race. * * * The Indians regaled me several times 
with a dish highly esteemed among them. It consists of 
plums dried in tlie sun and afterwards prepared with 
pieces of meat. I must own 1 found it (luite palatable. 
But hear what I subsefjuently learned as to their manner 
of preparing it. When an Indian woman wishes to pre 
serve plums, Avhich grow in i)rofusion here, she collects 
a great quantity and then invites her neighbors to her 
lodge to pass an agreeable afternoon. Their whole occu- 
pation then consists in chatting and sucking the stones 
from the plums, for they kec]) only the skins, which, after 
being sun-dried are kept for giand occasions. * * * 
The flag of the United States floated from a tall staff in 
front of the tent of the superintendent, and a discharge 
of cannon announced to the Indians that a division of 
the i)resents was about to take place. Without delay the 
occupants of the various camps flocked in — men, women 
and children — in great confusion and in their gayest cos- 
tumes, daubed witli paints of glaring hues, and decorated 
with all the gee-gaws they could boast. They took the 
respective places assigned to each particular band, thus 
forming an immense circle covering several acres of 
ground, and the mercliandise was piled in the center. (It 
may be well to explniii. here that as a reward for the 



Early Day Costumes, etc, 37 

promise of the Iiuliaiis to maintain peace among them- 
selves, and to allow free passage of the whites over the 
trail, and their observance of certain boundary lines of 
territory ascribed to them, they were to receive |50,000 
worth of merchandise to be delivered annually to the 
tribes, subject to a proviso whereby any tribe could be 
cut off if it sliould be guilty of a breach of promise, F. F. ) 
The great chiefs of the different nations were served first 
and received a suit of clothes. You may easily imagine 
their singular movements upon appearing in public, and 
the admiration they excited in their comrades, who were 
never Aveary admiring them. The great chiefs were for 
the first time in their lives pantalooned ; each was arrayed 
in a general's uniform, a gilt sword hanging at his side. 
Their long coarse hair floated above the military costume 
and the Avliole was crowned with burlesque solemnity of 
tlieir painted faces." 

But, alas, the Indians soon forgot all their pretty prom- 
ises, and they exerted every effort to put an end to the 
traffic through their country. Finding that peaceful per- 
suasion was in vain, tlie government sent General Harney 
from Fort Leavenworth in the summer of '55 with 1,000 
troops to cam])aign against the wily Sioux. On Septem- 
ber 2, 1<S55, he located a large camp of Indians at Ash 
Hollow, and on the following morning sent his cavalry 
around to cut off their retreat wliile he advance<l Avith 
the infantry. Chief Little Thunder came out to meet 
him to talk about peace, but Harney informed him that 
he had come to fight, and that he had better go back and 
get his Indians ready. Little Tlnindor calhMl to his peo- 



38 Taming of tup: Sioux 

pie to niii f(n- tlioii- lives, and tliev did so — until tliev met 
tlie cavjdiy, when ])andenioninni really broke loose. The 
Indians put nj) a i^anie ti<;ht, but the odds were a|»ainst 
them, and one hundred thirtv-six gave uj) the ghost, while 
the canij) with all its |»aia]»iieriialia was captured bv Gen- 
eral Harney. This has been described as a massacre, but 
the Custer tragedy, they say, was ])urely a tight, and not 
a massacre, so this atfair must have been "the liattle of 
Ash Hollow." Surely it was all of that. 

General Harney made a treaty with the Teton tribes 
of the Sioux at Fort Pierre in 1850, in which they agreed, 
again, to allow safe travel over the Overland trail, and 
other trails, for a further consideration of goods. And he 
devised a plan of g(>veriinient which was very sensible, 
though it was nevei- carried out, and in the same year 
established L'ort Kandall. which became the first large 
military ])ost on the ui)|)er Missouri. It was located near 
the southern boundary line of South Dakota, on the left- 
hand side of the river as you come u]) on a steamboat. 

From this time on until the eventful ye^ar of 18()2, the 
year of the Minnesota outbreak, things were not break- 
ing even with the Sioux of Minnesota. Various and com- 
plicated situatious arosc^ over the distribution of the mon- 
ies and annuity goods which tliey were to receive from 
the governnuMit in i)ayment of the land it had l)ought so 
cheaj). Chaiges of ill-faitli were made on both sides, and 
the grasping activity of the Indian traders caused more 
trouble than could itc iimicably adjusted. If these traders 
had been chased out of tlie country, tlien and thei-e. the 
U])rising might luivc been aveitcd. 



Early Day Costumes, e:tc. 39 

Tliere was another force at work on the frontier, of 
which we must take cognizance. It was Inkpadnta, a 
Wakpekute Sionx. Of him Doane Robinson, in his ad- 
miralde History of tlie Sionx Indians, says: "He inher- 
ited his father's tindish tem])er and cruel instincts, which 
were not at all moditied by his traininu,, and \vhen lie 
succeeded as chief of the outlaw band, u])on the death 
of AVamdesai)a, about 1848, he was a post graduate in 
savage deviltry. His tirst official exploit as chief of his 
band, which has been ])reserved to us, was the massacre 
of AVamundeyakajd, the dashing and decent young chief 
of the Waki)ekutes, together with seventeen of his war- 
riors, as they slept in their hunting camp on the head- 
waters of the ])es Moines, * * * Inkpaduta crejit in- 
to the camp an<l stabbed the men to death witliout arous- 
ing them, until his work was almost completed, and then 
escaped without the loss of a man. * * * He was not 
summoned to the council of Traverse des Sioux in 1851, 
nor consulted in the matter of the disi)osal of the land in 
Minnesota, his tribe c(msidering that he had by his con- 
duct forfeited all claim upon them. He looketl upon the 
situation otherwise and when the time for the first ])ay- 
ment came he was on hand to claim a share. The agent 
di<l not recognize him, but Inkpaduta com])elled the In- 
dians to pay tribute to him in goods and money, and he 
really got as much in value as the regular annuity In- 
dians. He appeare<l at each annual ])ayment in 18r)() and 
bulldozed the Indians into sharing with him. IJefoi-e the 
next payment he indulged in awful massacres at Spirit 
Lake and Si)ringtield, which put an end to his open ap- 



40 Taming of tjiu Sioux 

pearance ;il I lie agencies. In lliose massacres forty-two 
white jjei-soiis lii-sl jiikI las( lost their lives. During all 
this period his hand was a refuge and a shelter for the 
renegade Indians of all the hands. * * * His ubi- 
(liiity was amazing. He was everywhere from the Cana- 
dian line an<l I lie l>ad Lan<ls down to Nebraska and cen- 
tral Minnesota, and wherever he appeared, murder and 
theft maiked liis trail, yet while carrying on his guerilla 
work he was llie leader in every Itattle fought with the 
while troops alter Wood Lake, and it is not at all certain 
that he was not active in that battle and the ]n'evi()us en- 
gagements along the Minnesota. (In truth, he must have 
been a foi'inei- incarnation of N'illa, l'\ V.) He was at 
the alTair at i-'oi-t Abercrondtie in the very week of the 
battle of Wood Lake; he umM Captain Minei- at Sioux 
Falls in November; he stole horses and picked off an occa- 
sional man along the Minnesota frontier duiing the win- 
ter. In May he murdere<l Mr. Henry llasche near New 
rim, thongh Init two weeks earlier he had murdered JMi-. 
Jacobson at the .James l\iv<'r terry neai- \'aid<t(Mi. In 
July he massacred the AViseman family in Nebraska, and 
had retir<Ml to the bulValo conuti-y to make his winter's 
meat just in time to he |>rescnt and lead the hostilities 
in the battles at T.ig Mound, head Itulialo and Stony 
l^ake. * * It was only as a wai- cliier that he won 

a i)lace in the admiration of the Indians. In civil life 
they would have none oT him. j-^xcept where blood-shed- 
ding was the hnsiness in liaiid. they knew Ity sore experi- 
ence he was not to lie li-usled. During all of the time 
that he was in coininand of the Indian Corees the white- 



Eari.y Day Costumes, etc. 



41 



i .pa 




42 Ta.minc. of 'I'liiC Sioux 

iiKMi (lid not i-ealiz(' that he was evtMi pi-csi^nt, and in all 
of the wi-itinj;, tlKM-c is n(tt a line tliat gives him credit 
for any pail in tliose battles. ^]verYthini>- considered, he 
ninst be accoi-ded a liii^li ])lace as a military leader. * * 
* It is scarcely ]»rol)al)le from all of his conduct that he 
was otluM- than he seemed, a terrible monster." 

Yes, and so unceasin<»ly active was tliis fellow tliat it 
became almost a joke (m the frontier. One witty pioneer 
would meet another and ask: "\Vell, who's on the war- 
path?" 

"Inki)aduta," the answer W(»ul(l be. 

Hed Top, foi' such is the interi)retation of his name, lied 
to Canada, after the Custei- tij-ht, in '7(5, and remained 
there until liis death, alxmt 1S71I. 

The raids of Iidcpaduta went unheeded by the <i-overn- 
ment autliorit ies. The annual payment of |liO,()0(> was 
not forthcominii, while about r),()00 Sioux Indians were 
patiently waitin<> at the K'edwood ai^ency on the Minne- 
sota Kiver, foi* the distribution of provisions due them ac- 
eordinj; to treaty. ^^'lleIl these Indians bei>an to feel the 
l)incli of starvation, Iheii- stoic patience be<>an to wane, 
while a surly contem])t for the whites and their ways took 
its ]>lace. The «>reat nation of pale faces were at war 
with each oIIkm- our Civil War — and the idea occurred 
to the dissatisfied Sioux chiefs that the time was most 
oi)porlune for a successful uprising in which the white 
people of Minnesota could be kille<I off or driven out and 
the land i-estored to the ])ossession of the Siou.x. Chief of 
the disaffected Indians was Litth' Crow. .Ir., a hei-editai-v 
chief whose fatheis wci-e j^reat ruleis before him. and 



Early Day Costumes, etc. 



43 



who now was looked ii])oii 1)\- his ])(M)i)le a.s oue who couhl 
lead them out of tlieir difficulties, and bring to pass the 
fondest hopes of their wihlest dreams, to- wit : the anni- 
hilation of the arroiiaiit \vliites. 




The; Outbreak of '62 45 



THE OUTBREAK OF '62 

It needed but a spark to touch off the conflagratioo, a 
single act to set in motion a horde of maddened Sioux 
warriors bent on wreaking vengeance upon the white 
race by killing the settlers along the Minnesota River val- 
ley. And that spark was touched off on Sunday, the 17th 
of August, 1862, when four young Sioux of the tribe M'de- 
wakanton killed three whitemen and two women at a 
farm located in the southwestern corner of Meeker county. 

That night the murderers reached Little Crow's camp 
at what was known as the lower agency near Red Wood 
Falls. The old chief realized that this meant war. as the 
whites would try to punish the Indians, and he immediate- 
ly called a council of his leading men. Runners were sent 
to the outlying camps, and by daylight 250 warriors were 
ready to do the bidding of Little Crow. They fell upon 
the agency, killed several of the government employees, 
plundered the warehouses and the three trading stores, 
and set fire to the buildings. Fort Ridgely was thirteen 
miles south on the river, and al)()ut fifty whites of tlie 
agency — men, women and children — reached there in safe- 
ty, owing to tlie heroism of Robert Martelle, the ferryman 
on the Minnesota River. He stayed with his boat until 
the last galoot was ashore on the opposite side from the 
agencv. 



46 'J'a.ming of Tiii£ Sioux 

All day tlic istli the Indians luid a great time riding up 
and down the valley, killing, ])lnn(lering and burning, ami 
in the end had killed over l.OOO white settlers and cap- 
tured 155 women and young girls. This was going pretty 
far, but to the credit of the Sioux Indians let it be knoAvn 
tliat all of them did not take i)art in the affair; the major- 
ity held aloof and in several instanees gave warning and 
aid to the terrorized whites. 

The soldiers at Fort Hidgely, (m]y forty-five men. start 
ed out to quell the disturl)an(e on the 18tli. Arriving at 
the Minnesota Kiver they were attacked and over half 
their number killed, including their brave commander, 
Captain John F. Marsh. Only fifteen of the noble band 
returned to the i)ost alive. 

On the 20th the Indians attacked Fort Ridgely, which 
had been reinforced by the arrival of two companies, con- 
sisting of about one hundred men, and a company of 
Rangers— chietly halfbreeds. These men had set out a few 
days previous to aid the North in tlie big war Avitli the 
South, and ui)on hearing of the Indian outbreak had im- 
mediately turned back. 

After three days of fighting, in which the loss was small 
on both sides, the hostiles withdrew and proceeded to 
make an attack upon New Ulm, fifteen miles down the 
i-iver. The town was defended by Judge Flandreau with 
about 1,500 of the inhabitants, while Little Crow had 
about 750 warriors. It was a battle royal in which the 
Indians set fire to the (own, destroying two hundred build- 
ings, and kille<l fonrleen men and wounded sixtv. The 



The: Outbre:ak of '62 47 

casualties on their side was about the same, and by the 
next morning they were weary of the tight, and they left 
the vicinity. 

When the news of the outbreak reached Governor Ram- 
sey, at St. Paul, he asked Henry H. Sibley, young Indian 
trader, scout and trapper, to take command as colonel, 
of what forces could be raised. He immediately assembled 
an outfit of about 1,400 men, who were equipped with 
an assortment of ancient firearms and other munitions 
of war. He proceeded to Fort Ridgely, where he organ- 
ized his men as well as possible, considering their lack 
of military training, and on August 31st he sent out two 
companies of men to find and bury the dead bodies of the 
victims who liad been killed by tlie Indians. During that 
day and the next they found and buried seventy. At day- 
l)reak of September 2nd they were attacked by a large 
body of Indians, under chiefs Mankato and Big Eagle, 
and in the fight, which lasted until dark, fourteen men 
were killed and twenty-six wounded. On tlie morning 
of the 3rd, reinforcements from Fort Kidgely arrived, and 
the Indians were held off until Colonel Sibley reached 
them with nearly his entire command at midnight. Dur- 
ing this fight the Indians lost only two men, and they 
withdrew during the night. 

Sibley returned to Fort Kidgely and ])re])aied to lo- 
cate and liberate the unfortunate women cai)tives who 
were being held by Little Crow, and were being subjected 
to fairly rough treatment by the members of his band. 
Sibley sent word to the chief to return the ])risoneis and 
listen to terms of peace. As no satisfactory reply was 



48 Taminx of the Sioux 

received, Sibley left Fort Ridgely on September 22nd 
with 1,4~>0 men, and that night made camp a short dis- 
tance northeast of Battle Lake. Little Crow was camp- 
ed not far away and he watched the movements of Sib- 
ley with interest, yon may believe. He noted that the 
soldiers were not a very formidable looking aggregation, 
and he connseled his braves to attack the camp at once, 
but through a speech of one of the Indians, who was 
friendly to the Avhites, it was decided to wait until day- 
light next morning. 

So, on the following morning, before Sibley's men had 
partaken of breakfast, they were attacked and the tight 
was of the tiercest kind. The Indians were so sure of 
whipping the soldiers that they fought with a reckless 
bravado quite foreign to their usual manner of giving 
battle. But after three hours, Little Crow was com- 
pletely disillusione<l, and he was compelled to withdraw 
with a loss of thirty killed and many wounded, while the 
soldiers lost only four men, and suffered forty wounded. 

Tliat night, when the excitement had somewhat sub- 
sided, a few of Colonel Sibley's young officers approached 
him and suggested tliat he make a night attack for the 
l)urpose of rescuing the captives. Those adolescent In- 
dian lighters did ii(»l tlioroughly understand their dusky 
foes, and neither did they understand their brave leader. 
But he understood the Indian and likewise he under- 
stood those impetuous ol'licers His reply is obvious- 
he merely shook liis head. 

But he communicated with Little Crow and gave that 
fo.xy gentleman to iiiMlci-stand (hat if he killed one of those 



The Outbreak of '62 



49 




LITTLE SHIELDS MOTHER 



50 Taming of tiie Sioux 

captives his whole cain]) would be destroyed, witliont 
regard to age or sex. 

That message, doubtless, awakened more than ordin- 
ary interest in the affairs of life in the Sioux camp, and 
they held quite a council about it, and smoked more than 
was good for them, and let forth great volumes of naive 
oratory before coming to any conclusion in the matter. 

There was a rapidly growing number of friendly-to- 
the-whites Indians in the camp of Little Crow, and he 
struggled desperately to win them over to his cause, re- 
alizing that a house divided against itself must fall. There 
were too many against him, however, and on the 24th he 
left the camp with the most loyal of the hostiles, and 
made off to the northwest. On the 25th Colonel Sibley 
broke camp and marched in the direction of the Indian 
camp. He had sent secret instructions to the friendly In- 
dians to get all the ca])tives oft' to one side and raise a 
white Hag so that in case of a tight the captives would 
not be injured. 

With diums beating and flags flying in the morning sun- 
light, Sibley's command reached the Indian camp, march- 
ed by it a short distance and ])itched their tents. He then 
took two companies of men with their officers and went 
over to the cam]). Leaving Hie nicii in safety outside, he 
with some of the ofticers, walked boldly into the Sioux 
camp. This seems like a very brave act, but it must be 
remembered that Sibley understood the Indian. 

A camp crier, or announcer by the name of Round 
Wind, a windy old Indian 'round the camp, who made 
his rounds (piite often, if it was not too windv, and with 



The; Outbreak of '62 51 

a loud, not to say windy voice proclaimed the orders of 
the chiefs, came forward. Sibley took this worthy pa- 
triarch by the arm and told him — the Colonel spoke Sioux 
fluently— to announce to the people that they must give 
up those captives or suffer the consequences. Round 
Wind did as he was told, and without delay the captives 
were surrendered. 

The poor women could not believe that deliverance had 
really come. They had been dragged about the country 
for weeks with scarcely enough clothing to cover their 
bodies ; and with the other abuses heaped upon them, were 
well-nigh distracted. They clung to Colonel Sibley, hold- 
ing on to Ms hands and arms, hysterical with hope and 
fear. But they were indeed saved, and were well taken 
care of by Sibley's command. 

While there were still a great many Indians in the 
camp who were antagonistic to the whites, they had not 
shown fight, and thus Sibley proved that he knew what 
he was about. Had he made a night attack, as suggested 
by his officers, the Indians, undoubtedly, would have 
killed the captives, or else made away with them under 
cover of the darkness to parts unknown. 

Without Little Crow the Indians had no inclination to 
continue hostilities, and the head men offered to surren- 
der if they would be promised exemption from punish- 
ment. Colonel Sibley assured them kindly that he was 
there to punish the offenders and hang every one that 
he found guilty of the slaughter of innocent white peo- 
ple. Some of the braves looked real crestfallen at this, 
and most of them wished that they had remained neutral 



52 Taming of the Sioux 



in this war, for they were sure that the white chief would 
carry out his instructions to the letter. 

Sibley did not move for several days, and he issued an 
order that no offtcer or man of his command should go 
near the Indian camp. Tliat did seem strange to them. 
They just could not see through it, the inactivity and the 
order. But, as said before, they did not understand their 
commander, and neither did they understand the Indians, 
while he understood both, wliich was a happy combina- 
tion, as we shall see. 

Small parties of Indians had left the main camp and 
gone oft' fifteen and twenty miles, where they were wait- 
ing to see what the white soldiers would do next. But 
those that remained, after a time, sent out word to them 
that the troops seemed rather lazy, and they didn't ap- 
pear to want to light any more. 

And tlien Sibley noted that the Indian camp grew more 
and moie populous each day. Tlie stragglers were com- 
ing in. But there were some siiudl ])arties who still seem- 
ed determined to escai>e, and detachments of soldiers 
were sent out to round them u]) (luietly. This was ac- 
com])lishe<l successfully, Chief Little Crow and his party 
alone escaping. And liere it may be said that Little Crow 
soon after met the fate that was due liim. Wishing to 
get out of tlie country he attempted to steal horses, and 
was shot ])v some white men in the vicinity of Hutchinson, 
Minn., and his scalp may be seen today at the state his- 
torical rooms in the capitol in St. Paul. 

When it was found that ih* more hostiles could be 
brought in, Sibley suri-ounded the camp and (juietly ac- 



The Outbreak of '62 53 

complished the arrest of nearly four hiiudred warriors. 
Again was his ability to deal with the Indian proven, and 
his men learned something more about handling the slip- 
per}' Sioux. By his game of patiently waiting he had 
corraled nearly the whole lot. It was, indeed, a rare coup 
de grace. 

He then wanted to resign, and suggested that affairs 
be put into the hands of more experienced military men, 
and as a result, the government immediately made him a 
brigadier general and Ijegged him to continue in com- 
mand. This may have been another preconceived coup 
de grace, who knows, for we find that he acceded to the 
request and remained at his post. 

He organized a military commission of five members 
which assumed the duties of a court, and they gave the 
captured Indians what has been termed a fair trial, and 
303 were convicted of murder which, at that time, was a 
serious offense in Minnesota, punishable by death. The 
rest of the 400 were given a prison term of from one to 
ten years apiece. The members of Minnesota's original 
Four Hundred were now very sorry for their past mis- 
deeds, and there was much gloom in their hearts. 

However, the findings of the court had to be sent to 
the President before execution, and when Abraham Lin- 
coln looked over the list his great heart sympathized with 
the offenders and he carefully weighed the evidence of 
each as submitted and finally directed that forty be hang- 
ed, the rest to be held subject to further orders. In the 
meantime one of the condemned Indians died and an- 
other's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and 



54 Taming of the; Sioux 

so but thirty-eight were lianged by tlie neck until dead, 
at Mankato on December 2Gtli, 1862. This was the largest 
number of men executed by hanging at one time in Amer- 
ica, and it must have been a sight worth seeing. The gal- 
lows was erected in the shape of a square, and all were 
dropped at the same time. 




The Campaign of 1863 55 



THE CAMPAIGN OF 1863 

During the winter a meeting or council of war was held 
in Milwaukee with General John Pope, commanding the 
Department of the Northwest; General Sibley, in com- 
mand of the military district of Minnesota, and General 
Alfred Sully, commanding the district of the Missouri. 
It was believed that 4,000 to 6,000 Indians were still on 
the borders of Minnesota with hostile intentions towards 
the whites, and a plan was carefully worked out for their 
subjugation. It was decided that two separate divisions 
should operate against them. One under command of 
Sibley to proceed west through Minnesota and Dakota, 
and the other, 2,000 cavalry, under Sully, to ascend the 
Missouri Eiver to form a junction with Sibley's command 
in the vicinity of Devils Lake, North Dakota. 

It was a big undertaking for those times, as the soldiers 
would have to cover long distances through a country 
wihl and unbroken. The greatest problem was the trans- 
portation of ammunition, rations and other necessary im- 
pedimenta of an army campaign. But the work of pre- 
paration was pushed forward rapidly, and on June 16th, 
General Sibley left Camp Pope on the upper Minnesota 
River with 1,400 infantry and 500 cavalry, and started 
west in quest of hostile Indians. 

Nearly all the Sioux of Minnesota had left their reser- 
vations after the outbreak, and had passed tlie winter in 



56 Taminc. (»i- the Sioux 

tlic vicinity of Dovils I.ake. whicli they called Spirit Lake, 
a nnuli nicer name, hy the way. The great majority of 
these Indians were not nnfriendly to the whites, but they 
were afraid that a large force of soldiers wonld be sent 
against them to punisli indiscriminately all redmen with- 
out regard to whether they liad all participated in the 
outbreak or not. They had been led to believe this by 
Little Crow and his followers as they passed through 
their camps in Higlit. By the first of July these peaceable 
Indians had started towaid the Missouri River on a buf- 
falo hunt, and on the way they fell in with that Itad fel- 
low, Inkpaduta. They were not in sympathy with him 
to any extent, but they could not help admiring him for 
his daring and generalship, and through his very arro- 
gance he assumed command of the entire outfit. 

They were hunting buffalo v, hen suddenly Sibley came 
upon them. He asked for a council, and sent word that 
he had not come to fight the friendly Indians, but to 
punish the bad ones. Those designated as the friend- 
lies immediately started toward Sibley's command with 
the intention of surrendering when one of Inkpaduta's 
evil young men <leliberately shot and killed one of the 
white sohliers. The fight was precipitated at once. A 
number of the Indians, both friendly and otherwise, Avere 
killed, and the whole body of Sioux retreated before the 
soldiers. With remarkable skill, which was due to Ink- 
paduta's leadershij), they succeeded in holding back the 
soldiers while the scpiaws and children tied in safety. At 
dark Sibley's command rested while the Indians coun- 
ciled among themselves and pre]>ared for another bat- 



'I'tic; Campaign of 1863 57 

tie. This fight took place near IJig Moiiiitl, about forty 
miles east of Bismarck, N. D, 

During the night the Indians were joined by a large 
party of Teton Sioux from the west side of the Missouri 
River, and with this addition to their forces they felt 
reasonably certain of overcoming the sohliers. Two days 
after, which was on the 26th of July, a second engage- 
ment took place at Dead Buffalo Lake, a few miles far- 
ther to the w^est, where General Sibley was met by the 
Indians in full force, but he soon put them to flight with- 
out any casualties on his side. It was the policy of 
Inkpaduta to attack Sibley frequently in order to re- 
tard his progress, and at the same time lead him through 
the most inaccessible ])art of the country, thereby favor- 
ing as much as possible the escape of the women, children 
and aged. 

On the 28th, at daybreak, 2,000 mounted warriors made 
a furious attack upon General Sibley, but the soldiers 
stood their ground bravely, and by a heavy fire, convinced 
tlie Sioux that their efforts were in vain, whereupon they 
dashed for the Missouri Kiver, and crossed in great haste 
near the mouth of Apple Creek, which is about three 
miles south of the present capital of North Dakota. 

Greneral Sully was delayed in his march up the Mis- 
souri River, and his command did not reach the point 
where Sibley drove the Indians across until nearly a 
month after. His supplies were carried by steamboats, 
and on account of an unusually low stage of water, and 
the pilots which were probably not very good, slow prog- 
ress was made. General Sibley had no facilities for cross- 



58 Taming of the Sioux 

iiig- the stream, so after destroying what paraphernalia 
the Indians had abandoned in their haste, he started back 
across the hot prairies of Dakota for Minnesota. 

When Sully reached xVpple Creek he found that a large 
party of Indians had returned to the east side of the 
river, and were evidently following Sibley's command, 
bent on giving it trouble. But the facts of the case were 
that Inkpaduta believed that the white soldiers would 
molest him no more, and was returning to resume his buf- 
falo hunt in order to provide his people with food and 
robes for the coming winter. 

A i)ortion of Sully's command was sent ahead, to the 
southeast, to scout, and at noon of September 3rd, they dis- 
covered Inkpaduta's camp at Whitestone Hill. There 
were about 3,000 souls in the camp, of which 1,000 were 
fighting men. They surrounded the soldiers, of whom 
there were four coini)aiiies under Major A. E. House, and 
the Indians were so numerous and energetic that the 
whites believed their time had come. But old Inkpaduta 
was not in a hurry. He believed, too, that he had the 
soldiers as good as whipped, and he wanted to pull off 
their destruction in a manner befitting the occasion. He 
ordered his warriors to hold oil" until the necessary prep- 
arations could be made for so sublime an event. The 
s(piaws began to cook a mighty feast while the warriors 
l)ainted themselves in all the hideous forms their ingenu- 
ity could suggest. Meanwhile the soldiers st»M)d in the 
square formation, facing out on all four sides, and wait- 
ed while their thouglils roamed to their far distant homes, 



Tut Campaign of 1863 59 

where, doubtless, many of them uow wished they had re- 
mained. 

It took all afternoon for the Indians to get ready for 
the slaughter, and just when they were about to begin, 
in the cool of the evening. General Sully hove in sight 
less than a mile away, his cavalry approaching rapidly. 
Instantly life took on a brighter hue to House's men, 
and the apparent easy victory of the Indians now was 
changed to impending defeat, and they thought of noth- 
ing else but to get away. Tepees were pulled down and 
in a very few minutes the Indian camp was in full re- 
treat. Sully fell upon them from the rear, while House 
attacked them from the east. But the warriors rallied 
and met them with the death song on their lips, and dur- 
ing the fight, which lasted an hour, three hundred bit 
the dust and 250 women were taken prisoners, while Sully 
lost twenty-two men killed and tifty wounded. All the 
camp equippage and food supplies of the Indians was 
destroyed, and the Indians were very much defeated. But 
this had happened to them so often of late that it was 
getting to be quite the common thing, and if, perchance, 
they had once tasted real victory, the rarity of the thing 
would have turned their heads, no doubt. With Ink- 
paduta, that day, were Gall, Sitting Bull and Black 
Moon, but their fame had not yet become widespread. 

Whitestone Hill does not show on the maps of today. 
It is probably no longer in existence, or else the map-mak- 
ers have overlooked it. Some prosperous farmer has 
likely smoothed it off with his plow, and is raising those 
huge wheat crops upon it, that we hear of once in a 



6o 



Tami.nc. of the; Sioux 



while. At any rate, that liill ir<is twdve miles west of the 
present town of Ellendale, North Dakota. 

Finding- that lie eonld not j>et into commnnication with 
Sibley, who had l»y now reached Minnesota, General Sully 
marched his men in a southwesterly direction to the Mis- 
souri Elver where, dnrinii the balance of the fall, he built 
a fort at a point about four miles south of Pierre, which 
he named in honor of himself. This was the second mili- 
tary post to be l)uilt upon the Missouri. 

In 1866 this i>ost was abandoned, and a new and finer 
Fort Sully was built at a ])oint about 33 miles farther 
up the river, where it did good service in the work of 
taming the Sioux until 1893, when it was abandoned for 
good. 



Other Forts and Fights 6i 



OTHER FORTS AND FIGHTS 

In 1864 it was deemed uecessary, by the military au- 
thorities, to send another large expedition against the 
Indians of the Northwest in order to subdue them once 
and for all. General Sully was given an additional num- 
ber of troops, and with eight steamboats to carry them 
and the supplies, the expedition set out from Fort Sully 
early in July. Going up the Missouri River about 240 
miles, a stop was made at a point seven miles above the 
mouth of the Cannau ball River, and Fort Rice was 
established. Sully left a garrison of four companies 
there, and with the remainder of the troops started west, 
going up the winding and picturesque Cannon Ball in 
search of the hostile Indians who, it was reported, were 
gathered in large number in camp on the headwaters of 
the Heart River, which rose not far from those of the 
Cannon Ball. 

Supplies enough to last three Aveeks were taken by the 
command, and the steamboats were ordered to go on up 
the Missouri to a point fifty miles on and above the mouth 
of the Yellowstone River, there to wait for the arrival of 
Sully, who by going directly west, would reach the same 
point. His command was composed of 2,000 cavalrymen, 
with a large provision train of wagons drawn by mules. 

The provision train was left under guard at the hea<l- 
waters of the Heart River, and on the morning of July 



62 Taming of the Sioux 

28th the hostile caiiiiJ was located in the Killdeer Moun- 
tains. It was a large camp of about 2,000 fighting men, 
and they came out on the prairie to meet the soldiers. 
A light ensued, with the usual result, Sully was given the 
decision, killing thirty-two and capturing the camp ecjuip- 
age, but the Indians were not very well armed, and were 
not anxious to fight the whites in the first place. How- 
ever, as they were pursued far into the heart of their 
country there was no alternative but to try and defend 
their homes. 

Then Sully tackled the Bad Lands which lay between 
him and the Yellowstone River. Coming to the edge of 
that wild and broken country, where the force of the 
elements had washed the naked buttes into every conceiv- 
able kind of formation, the general is said to have re- 
marked to his officers : 

"Gentlemen, there is Hell with the lights out." 
And he thought it was so by the time they got through. 
It was a terrific ordeal for both man and beast, and many 
horses and mules died by the way. There was no water 
to drink excepting what was found in stagnant alkali 
holes, and as the Indians burned off all the grass ahead 
of the soldiers, forage was very scarce. Progress was ex- 
tremely slow, as it was hard to find a way for the heavy 
transport wagons to go, and the men were put on half 
rations. The Indians followed the command and fired 
upon it from behind the jagged buttes at most unexpected 
moments, taking all the enjoyment out of the trip, and 
making it extremely unpleasant. 



Other Forts and Fights 63 

They finally dragged out of the Bad Lauds aud reached 
the Little Missouri River. Crossing this they proceed- 
ed on toward the Yellowstone. The Indians did not 
bother them now, as the open pi-airie country did not per- 
mit them to approach under cover. But there were other 
drawbacks of a different nature than had hitherto been 
encountered, and it must have seemed to them that a 
higher power than theirs was retarding their progress, 
or that the very land, or the spirit of the country, did 
not take kindly to their intrusion. These redmen were 
Dame Nature's children and she was a demiurge who 
sympathized with them while they communed with her. 
And likely, she had the usual antipathy for strangers 
that we all have, and she aided her old friends, the In- 
dians, by putting everything in the way of the soldiers' 
advance that would annoy them. Ages before she had 
fashioned the Bad Lands with the object, no doubt, of 
giving this very command a touch of that future punish- 
ment their brave leader hinted at when he first beheld it. 
No one knows what else the Bad Lands were created for, 
so it must have been for that. And now, as the boys in 
blue approached the open country between the Little Mis- 
souri and Yellowstone Rivers, what did she do? She sent 
l)illions of grassh()i)pers, which ate off every spear of 
grass and turned the land into a veritable desert. That's 
what she did I And she caused her wind to blow, hot and 
scorching, from the south, raising the dust of the blister- 
ing land in itarching, stinging blasts, through which the 
command dragged its way slowly. And she withheld her 
rain! Wliat more couhl she do? With all t\w help they 



64 Taming of the Sioux 



got from luM-, tlie Indians should liave been able to keep 
the white intruders out of the land for a while lon«;er 
at least. But those white men had the knowledge and 
the will i)ower of a mighty rare behind them Avhich 
buoyed them u]» and urged them (mward. It was the 
eosmie urge, and though it seemed that the very limit 
of endurance luul Ix^eii reached, they toiled on until they 
came to (he smiling and cool Yellowstone I\iver, and bath- 
ed their feverish brows in its limpid waters. What a 
blessed relief it must have been ! 

But Dame Nature showed the effect of her handiwork 
again ; they were not through with her by any means. 
The steamboats were there with the supplies, but on the 
way u]), and a short distance below Fort Union, a trad- 
ing ])ost at the moutli of the Yellowstone, the Island Cittj, 
the largest and best boat, struck a snag and sank. She 
carried a large amount of corn for Sully's animals, and 
barreled jjork for the men, and supplies for the estab- 
lishment of a military post at the mouth of the Yellow- 
stone, all of which were lost, and thus it appears that 
Dame Nature was guilty of placing that tough, (dd snag 
in the river channel with malice aforethought. 

The other boats, being siuallei-, carried barely enough 
]n-ovisions for the command to make its retui-n march 
on, so the i)roject of establishing the post had to be aban- 
doned for the time being. Sully turned his heels to the 
northwest and his face to the southeast, and ordering his 
men to do likewise, gat himself out of there. He stopped 
by the way and established Fort Berthold, about 100 miles 
above Itismarck, and for several years it was an import- 



Other Forts and Fights 



65 




66 'I'aming of tiih Siorx 

ant post (HI the upper Missouri. On the 8th of Septem- 
ber, the C'ommaiKl airived at T^ort Rice and put up for 
the winter. 

The Sioux then gave their attention to hunting and 
molesting the emigrants and military expeditions that 
ventured into the Dakotas, and until the year 1879 the 
most of them were constantly on the Avarpath. 

Their mode of living and manner of warfare during 
this period is now familiar to all seeing people. It is 
unnecessary to describe it here, and it would be a waste 
of valuable time. Everybody is conversant with all the 
details of how they attacked the little frontier posts, cap- 
tured and burned the emigrant trains, and took captive 
the fair-haired <laughters of the grizzled old frontiers- 
men, their hasty retreat when the soldiers came to the 
rescue, or the furious early morning fight when the In- 
dian camp w-as surprised by the blue coats, and the beau- 
tiful long-haired captive maidens were rescued just when 
they had begun to love the handsome young Indian chiefs. 
Yes, all have become thoroughly familiar with such 
scenes, for the moving picture companies have done the 
work splendidly and comprehensively. They have sliow^n 
upon the screen every phase of Indian life, and some 
scenes that are not phases, and while the audiences sot 
spellbound, they have wantonly slain, right before their 
eyes, more brave, fighting Indians and soldiers than ever 
were killed in all the Indian wars this great country has 
seen. 

But there really was some prett}^ severe fighting be- 
tween the whites and Indians during this time, and in 



Other Forts and Fights 67 

the number of men killed the Battle of Fort Phil Kearney 
ranks high, the account of which I find in a rare volume 
of Frontier and Indian Life, written by the late Joseph 
Henry Taylor, of Washburn, N. D. He was one of the 
earliest pioneers of the Dakotas, a quaint and interesting 
character, a true friend of the Indian, and a man who 
thought a great deal of the whites. I give the account 
as written in his own whimsical and picturesque lan- 
guage : 

'^No military post ever constructed on the far western 
frontier, during its occupancy, had so much of the tragic 
— so much speculatitve thought for the believer in the 
doctrine of foreordination or fatalism, or strange and 
romantic turns in the after lives of its garrison as Fort 
l*hil Kearney. 

"It had been named in honor of the famous officer who 
l(>st his life at the head of his troops at Chantilly, Sep- 
tember 1, 1862, during Pope's 'In the Saddle' campaign 
l)etween Washington, D. C, and tlie Confederate capital. 

''The post was one of a chain of forts planned by the 
government for the protection of the Montana road, a 
contemplated thoroughfare fi-om tlie Platte River along 
the eastern base of the Hocky Mountains to the mining 
districts of Montana. 

''An expedition Avith this object in view left Fort Kear- 
ney on Platte River in June, 1800, under command of 
Col. H. B. Carrington, which consisted of two thousand 
men (the correct number was only 700 men, F. F. ) to 
be evenly distributed at the different proposed posts. Col. 
Carrington chose a site on a tributary stream of the 



68 Taming "F the Sioux 



Powder Kiver. aud on Jnlv 14th. of the same year, work 
on the new post was commenced under commander Car- 
riugton*s i)ersonal supervision, aud by October the fort 
was enclosed. ( This was Fort Phil Kearney. F. F. i 

"While the country there had been known as 'Crow 
Country.* it was at that time, by right of possession, a part 
of the Sioux domain. The Oglalas ( Sioux i under the 
chief Red Cloud and High Back Bone, a chief of the Miu- 
neconjous ( Sioux i. with their following, were bitterly 
opposed to the opening of the Montana road through their 
game preseiwes, and conimence*! venting their spleen by 
harrassing the garrison at Fort Phil Kearney. The beef 
herd was run off and two soldiers killed during the first 
week of the militai-y occupation, and frequent repetition 
of hostile raids with more or less casualties during the 
balance of the summer months. 

^^n the 21st day of December of that year, the hostile 
attacks culminated in a general assault on the wood train 
and escort. The post outlook had been signalled to for 
aid. and commander Carrington sent out a relief party 
of eighty-one men, consisting of both infantry and cavalry, 
besides two citizen scouts, the whole force under Colonel 
Fetterman. The Indians were seen on a ridge on the east 
side of Peno Creek, ha\ing retired in a feint from the 
wood train in order to successfully entrap the coming 
soldiei-s. Fetterman. being an impetuous officer ( and act- 
ing against orders. F. F. i rushed into ambuscade, and in 
less than two hours all were killed. 

^•The battle is generally spoken of as the 'Fort Phil 
Kearney Massacre.' and next to Custer's fight on the Lit- 



Other Forts and Fights 69 

tie Big Horn, the greatest uumber of soldiers were killed 
of any of the latter day battles between the government 
troops and Indians. 

"Among the officers killed beside Col. Fettermau was 
Captain Brown and Lieutenant Grnmmond, the latter 
officer haying been placed in charge of the cavalry. He 
was a handsome, dashing soldier and had left behind him 
at the fort a young wife, who. when the news was brought 
to her of the fight, and that her beloved husband was 
among the slain, the sudden shock threw her into mingled 
rage and sorrow, and rushing into the quarters of the 
commanding officer, with disheveled hair and a torrent 
of sobs, she hurled the most terrific invectives against the 
unlucky commander's head, charging him with little less 
than the wilful murder of her husband. Those who heard 
the interview speak of it as the most tempestuous out- 
burst of fiery invectives and denunciations ever heard from 
the lips of a pretty woman. Out, venerable chestnut, out I 
— ^O, consistency, thou art a jewel.' 

"Come with me, my reader, and leave for a time at 
least these dreary and monotonous expanses of semi-des- 
erts — and shelterless path of the hot simoons; leave the 
sight of these eternal snow-capped mountains whose 
rugged summits hide from you the clear azure of the 
western sky, and from under and around these foothills 
where sad memories come in endless chain. Come wiili 
me then, in airy fiight to Tennessee's green groves and fair 
fields, in the land of the myrtle, the mistletoe and clinging 
ivy — the sweet mignonette and fragrant honeysuckle that 
entwine and perfume the mansions of that sunny land. 



70 Taminc, of TiiK Stoux 



"Away again, then, O memories of ill-fated Phil Kear- 
ney with its uncanny thoughts — its cheerless deserted 
vales — its neglected, brier-covered graves of gallant but 
now almost forgotten dead. 

"Come with me then (we're coming, F. F.) to a planta- 
tion of historic name in this southern clime and I will 
show you a picture — with the grace and sight of the year 
1888. I will show you a fair lady in her silks and satins 
— rosy, smiling face touched by the stain of frosts that 
revolve with the cycle of time. You will see that this 
lady's hair is twined with blossoms of orange hue. You 
will see by this lady's side a knightly cavalier, whose hair 
is silvered somewhat, but whose stately mien and mili- 
tary bearing proclaim him a thorough soldier. How 
proudly he walks by her side — aye, prouder than when 
he stood on conquering rampart or received the plaudits 
of admiring throngs. 

"Now, good reader, you have a glimpse of the picture. 
It is a passing view of the ex-commander of Fort Phil 
Kearney leading to the altar she whose great heart cries 
for her murdered husband's sake pealed out in endless 
echoes through the cold, frosty air on that ever to be 
remembered December night within the lonely fort of 
shadowy phantoms in the Powder River wilderness." 

So, from what Mr. Taylor tells us, you cannot always 
tell what the future will bring forth. 

The following summer, on August 2nd, another affair 
took place, that is known as "The Wagoubox Fight."* It 
was at Fort Phil Kearney, and it is worth telling about. 
The wood train and its guard of twenty-five men of Com- 



Othkr Forts and Fights 



paiiY (\ 27th lufaiitry, under Capt. James W. Powell aud 
Lieut. John C. Jenness, was attacked by a large body of 
Red Cloud's warriors. The wood camp, which was located 
on an island in the Big Piny Creek, a tributary of the 
Powder River in northern Wyoming, was destrf>yed by 
the Indians. The soldiers and wood-choppers took refuge 
in an improvised stockade composed of empty wagon 
boxes placed in a circle on a nearby stretch of open 
prairie. Holes had been bored in the sides for the men 
to shoot tlirongli, and tliey lay down or crouched in the 
wagon beds. They had a good supply of ammunition and 
the latest improved Springfield rifles, which could be re- 
loaded rapidly. There were enough rifles so that the best 
shots could use several, one old frontiersman being suj)- 
plied with eight, while those of the party who lould noL 
shoot well were given the task of reloading. 

There were at least 3,000 Indians about them, while 
upon the surrounding hills the old men, women and cliil- 
dren were assembled to witness the i)rol)able extermina- 
tion of the whitemen. To begin Avith, Red Cb)ud sent 
r)00 of his best men, in full regalia, in a magnificent 
charge upon the little fortification. It has been claimed 
by some writers that the Indians were mounted upon 
their '^fleetest ponies," but this is now disputed, so. evi- 
dently they went on foot. However, so furious was their 
advance, and so well-directed was the fire of the sobliers, 
tliat wlien they dashed around and by the stockade, aud 
raced on out of range, the field was strewn with dead and 
dving In<lians. During this charge, l>rave Lieutenant 



72 Taj\jing ui- THi-: Sioux 

Jeniiesw and one inivatc were killed, aiul two oilier sol- 
diers wounded. 

lied Clond I lien ])lanned anollier assault. Ho had his 
men i'eni(>ve all of Iheii- fancy regalia until they wore only 
the breechcloth and moccasins, and seven hundred were 
detailed as a skiiniisliin^ parly lo cieej) forward, taking 
advantage of every piotection in the form of depressions 
of Ihe ground and other covers until they were within 
range of the stockade, which they should then overwhelm 
with rille and ariow tire. They did not come near enough 
to exj)ose themselves unnecessarily to the terrible guns 
of the wliitemen, but when within range of their own 
inferior muskets, they ojiened lire and showered the wag- 
onsides with a merry fusilade. The bullets crashed into 
the soft NNood just above the soldiers' heads, but not a 
man was hurt. The arrows, having si)ent their foi-ce, 
fell harmlessly among them, while the men kept silent 
through it all. Thinking that the soldiers weie all killed, 
the main body of the Indians charged under the leader- 
shi]> of a nephew of Ked Cloud, a tine, dashing young 
chieftain. It was a splendid hjoking maneuvei-, and they 
came forwai-d with a dauntless courage that was admir- 
able. As they drew near, the ordei- was given to tire, and 
the rifles of the \\hit<'nien spoke with deadly effect. Pow- 
ell, himself, brought down the young chief, but another 
took his ]»lace and led them on until they were so close 
that some of the soldiers, in their e\<'itement. actually 
rose to their knees and threw missiles in the faces of 
the Indians. Wui jus! as vict(ny was in tlieii- gi-asp, the 



Othe;r Forts and Fights 



73 




TWO SHIELDS 



74 Tamtnc. of the Sioux 

rediHcii turned ;iii<l ictivatcMl in liaste before the "ailing: 
fire from tlie liltle stockade. 

Still iindaimted, Ked (Moiul, sent forth his men. vet a 
third time, and not nntil he had made six distinct char<ies 
in all, did he make np his mind that he had had enough. 
But he was mistaken, for had he sent forward his men 
once more the brave men under Powell would certainly 
have been overwhelmed, for the ammunition was running 
perilously low, and many of the rifles were useless from 
the rapid tiring. Ked Cloud thought only of recovering his 
dead and wounded now. and he sent his men forward to 
subject the wagon stockade to a constant tire while others 
dragged the disabled from the tield. At this moment a 
detachment of 100 men arrived from the fort, the Indians 
moved otT" and Powell and his men were escorted back to 
the ])ost. 

It has l)een estimated by sonic that the Indians l«»st be- 
tween (>7 killed and iL'b wounded, and by others that they 
lost 1.1 o7 warriors. At any rate, there was a heavy cas- 
ualty list of the Sioux nation's bravest men. and it was 
a long time beftne the Indians understood how the sol- 
diers were al>le to make their guns shoot so fast and so 
strong. Powell lost only the two men killeil and the two 
wounded, and for many nights the distant hills in the vicin- 
ity of the fort resounded with the wailing and chanting 
of the old Indian men and squaws as they sang the death 
song for their beloved lost ones. 

After this. Kc<l ('bind divided his forces and directed 
them against all the forts along the Montana trail, and 



Othe;r Forts and Fights 75 

he made it exceetliiij^iy interesting for the soldiers sta- 
tioned there. 

In July, 1867, l>v act of congress, a peace commission 
was appointed to confer politely with Red Cloud and oth- 
er hostile Sioux chiefs, and endeavor to ascertain the 
cause of their disaffection, as if the government didn't 
know. It took the rest of the summer and all fall to 
arrange a meeting with Red Cloud to be held at Fort 
Laramie, and then the wily old chief did not go down, but 
sent word that there was just one thing he wanted, and 
that was the withdrawal of the soldiers on the Montana 
trail, and that he would try to meet the commission the 
next spring or summer. 

The following year, on A]>ril 29th. a treaty was signed 
with twenty -four chiefs, not including Red Cloud. It was 
a nice, friendly treaty full of promises of peace and good 
will on the i)art of our government, and by it the entii'e 
portion of South Dakota from the Missouri River to the 
silent peaks of the Black Hills was designated and set 
aside as a reservation for the Sioux. An agency with a 
set of efficient employees Avas promised to be built on the 
Missouri at the expense of the government. Any Indian 
who so desired was given the right to select 320 acres of 
land in this domain for farming purposes, and he would 
be furnished with all necessary farming implements, and 
in addition he should have the assistance of the agency 
farmer to help him in his tussle with the virgin soil. A 
generous amount of rations, in the form of food and clotli- 
ing would be forthcoming, and schools were to be built, 
for the enlightenment of the Indian children. No white 



76 Taming oi" 'I'liE Sioux 

person could settle upon this reservation, and he would 
have to obtain special permission from the Indian agent 
to pass over it. The government further promised that 
in ninety days after the cessation of hostilities it would 
withdraw the troops from Forts Phil Kearney, C F. 
Smith and Reno on the Montana trail, and abandon the 
trail, thus leaving Red Cloud's beloved Powder River 
country west of the Black Hills, open and untrammeled 
by the contaminating influence of the whiteman for a 
while at least. 

But Red Cloud sent word that he Avould not sign the 
treaty nor cease his activities until he saw the positive 
abandonment of the trail, and after waiting a few months 
the government actually acceded to his demands and took 
the soldiers away. Then the independent old chief said 
lie must attend to his fall hunting and get things in 
shape for winter, so it was not until November 6tli, 1808, 
that he signed the treaty at Laramie in the presence of 
a large number of his people, thus attaining the greatest 
victory over the United States government ever accom- 
l)lished by any man, red or white. 

Up to this time the roving bands of Sioux gave con- 
sideral)le attention to the tral'tic- on the Missouri River 
and the isolated army posts situated thereon. A heavy 
business was being carried on between St. Louis, Missouri, 
and Fort Benton, Montana, the head of navigation, by 
steamboats; the value of the cargoes of furs and gold dust 
brouglit down each year amounting to hundreds of thous- 
ands of dollars. With all this activity on the part of the 
whites it is small wonder tliat tlie Indians did not be- 



Other Forts and Fights 'jj 

have. They were constantly on the warpath, sneaking 
about the little forts, waiting to pick off anyone who dared 
venture forth, and often shooting into the posts and kill- 
ing the inmates as they went about their duties. They 
drove off the cattle herds, and then went down in the 
river bottom and concealed themselves in the timber and 
waited for the steamboats ^to come along so they could 
take pot shots at the passengers, as they sat in their cane- 
bottomed chairs enjoying the beautiful scenery. The 
pilots became a trifle uneasy altout such occurrences, and 
by putting boiler iron on each side of the steering wheel 
in the pilot houses, endeavored to protect themselves from 
the missiles of the unreasonable Indians. But sometimes 
the dusky foe would take ui) a position on the edge of a 
high bluff" along the river where the boats were compelled 
to come in close in order to keep in the channel, and then 
they made it interesting for the pilots by shooting down 
through the unprotected roof of the pilot house. Un- 
questionably those were great old days. 

When Fort Buford was built, the Sioux did all they 
could to relieve the monotony of the day's work for the 
whitemen by firing off their guns in the direction of the 
post. Joseph Henry Taylor has this to say about the 
life there : 

^'Fort Buford was for many years the most noted mili- 
tary post along the upper Missouri Kiver. Tlie site was 
laid out and building commenced June ir)th, 18GG, on a 
high bench of table land on tlie Missouri, nearly opposite 
the mouth of the Yellowstone River. For a period reach- 
ing over thirty years there had been established and doing 



78 Taming oi" the Sioux 

a good business tor the ])r()prietors au Indian trading 
post, located three miles iicnt Invest of tlie new military 
post. 

This trading post was known as Fort Union, and was 
built from material after the Spanish-Ameriean fashion — 
a composition of sun-dried brick, called adobe. The first 
resident agent of the fur c()mi)any at Fort Union, was a 
Scotch gentleman named Mackenzie. The year 1832, the 
noted painter and writer, George Catlin, made a several 
days' stay at this place and was handsomely entertained 
by the hospitable Gael. The artist found exciting and 
romantic situation for pen and pencil. The scenes that 
he and other venturesome travelers describe around Old 
Fort Union, i)rovc that from the earliest information we 
have of that section, that it was a central fighting ground 
for numerous warlike tribes. Being near the center of 
the great northern butfalo range, the country thereabout 
was seldom devoid of inliahilants. A lone butte north- 
east of the ])resent Fort IJuford. a few miles, marks the 
site of the close of the adventurous career of this Scotch 
trader, lie had l)een in tlie habit of riding out for daily 
exercise, unmindful of the dangers that beset him. One 
of his lavorilc points was the butte that now bears his 
name. l-'rom its ])inna('le a vast scope of the country 
could l)e seen, and he look |)leasure in watching the great 
herds of buffalo that grazed ujxm the plains. His trips 
l)ecame marked l»y a band of scalp-hunting redmen, and 
one day he was and)ushed and slain as he was descend- 
in u fi-om his perch. 



OriiKR Forts and Fights /g 

It was here also, the chroniclers of the past tell us, 
that by the frowning mud walls of this old trading post, 
another agent in charge lost his pretty halfbreed wife, 
by the aching heart and deft hands of a sturdy South As- 
siuiboine brave, who had been loitering around in front 
of the fort mounted upon a tractable charger. The pretty 
wife was basking in the morning sun near the unguarded 
gateway, when she Axas suddenly seized by the brawny 
arms of the im])etuous wooer, and lifted up and thrown 
across Ins saddle, and jdunging his heels into his spirited 
pony's tianks was soon scurrying across the prairies. The 
disconsolate husband and a few retainers followed out a 
short ways but gave up the chase. Whether the young 
bride was ever recovered by the trader the chronicles do 
not inform us, a missing link, as it were, in the old adobe 
fort's history. But the most probable end of the romance 
Avas that it took prosaic form, that the prairie nurtured 
bride found congeniality in the tented life along the 
Eiviere Du Lac, with so gallant an admirer for a pro- 
tector; Avhile the traders grief was seared over by the 
plentiful offers that moved the red parents of pretty maids 
to place themselves in close alliance with the dispenser 
of bright calicoes, shining beads and other fineries that 
tempt the cupidity of the savage breast. 

Fort Buford was constructed for a garrison of four 
hundred men. The first commander was Colonel Rankin, 
of tlie old Thirty-first regiment, U. S. Infantry, after- 
wards consolidated with the present Twenty-second regi- 
ment of U. S. Infantry. 



8o Taming ok the Sioux 

After the massacre of tlie soldiers at I'ort Phil Ivearne}', 
in December, 1.SG6, larj^e bodies of Sioux moved dowu the 
Yellowstone, to the month of Powder River, where buffalo 
were more plentiful; and the Uncpapa Sioux were par- 
ticularly hostile to the occupation of that section by the 
military. 

In January, 18G7, Sitting Bull, then just rising to note 
among Black Moon's baud of Uncpapas, headed a large 
war party and made a systematic investment of Fort 
Buford, encamping opposite the post in the timber at the 
junction of the two great rivers. On one occasion he 
sallied out with a fovce of warriors and captured the saw- 
mill near the landing and vigorously beat time on the 
huge circular sav as a drum, adding his own sonorous 
voice, while his y.mng braves danced si)rightly around 
on fast time to the lUsgust of the bad gunners at the fort, 
who vainly endeavorec to turn a corner of their mirth by 
di-oppiiig around them whistling f useless shells. 

Several soldiers and citizens were killed by these In- 
dians in the immediate vicinity of the post during the 
winter. In the four following years Fort Buford was 
virtually in a state of siege, twice losing their beef herds 
and other stock." 

With the building of Fort Buford there were now live 
new military posts on the upper Missouri River, the others 
being Fort Randall, Fort Sully, Fort Rice and Fort I5er- 
thold. The exi)eriences of the men stationed at Fort Bu- 
ford were duplicated at the other posts, and to the activ- 
ity of the hostile Indians, other worries were added to 
make uj) the sum lotjil of (lie miseries of the soldiers. The 



Other Forts and Fichts 



8i 




GRAY HAWK 



Taming of the Sioux 



buildiujis of lii(' fort were coiistrncted mostly of loj'-.s, with 
dirt roofs and lloors. lledbiigs, tleas and other insects 
came to take up their abode in these rude (jnarters, and 
on toyt of til at every fort was visited by a plague of rats. 
These rats were first brought into the country by the 
steamboats which came from afar down the Mississippi 
River, and at Fori like, alone, the pesky rodents de- 
sti-oyed 1,000 pounds of corn and other provisions <laily. 
As these supplies were transported by steamboat from St. 
Louis, at a heavy expense, the loss was no insignificant 
one. I^)r several years, so aggressive were the rats that 
the gov(M'nnient refrained from sending cavalry to the 
forts on account of the difticulty of keeping the horses 
sui)plied with feed, and of all things, the Cavalry was 
needed the most in co])ing with the depredations of the 
Indians. Which again brings up the subject of Dame 
Nature and her collusion with the Sioux. We should give 
her the credit for calling u])on the rat tribe to aid her in 
confounding the enemies of her red children. And for a 
time she succeeded very well. 

So great wei-e the hardshi])s endured by the men at 
these forts that many became discouraged and (leserte<l 
when they found a chance to get out of the country. 
AN'liat they had lo ))nt up with was almost beyond human 
endurance, and one can hardly blame lliem for leaving. 
Tlnid< of I lie long, lonesonu' days ami nights spent by 
those men in (he rude little forts far, far away from their 
loved ones at home I During the age-long winters tliey 
could not get out of the country, or even coniniU!iicat(^ 
with llic outside world; and with tli<' possibility of meet- 



Other Forts and Fights 83 

ing death at any moiueiit, life must have been very hard 
indeed. In after years, ^^dlen tliese forts were enlarged 
and garrisoned by a large force of men, many of whom had 
their wives and sweethearts with them, it was vastly dif- 
ferent. The posts were then gay places in which to live, 
and there was just enough of the Indian fighting and 
campaigning to add zest to the life and make it romantic 
and interesting. The old army officers and soldiers now 
say that the most enjoyable part of their service was S])ent 
upon the Indian frontier while stationed in the larger 
forts. So the real suffering and hardships were endured 
by the little handful of men that were left in a howling 
wilderness to build forts and pave the way for the com- 
ing t>f the present happy inhabitants of the land, and too 
much credit cannot be given them for the work they did. 



Standing Rock and Fort Yat^s 85 



STANDING ROCK AND FORT YATES 

In fulfillment of the treaty of 18G8, three a<»on('ies were 
established on the west side of the Missouri River. Whet- 
stone, the first agency, was built at a point eighteen miles 
above Fort Randall. Cheyenne agency, with a small mili- 
tary post, called Fort Bennett, was established below the 
outlet of the Cheyenne River, 3.") miles above IVierre; and 
at the mouth of the Grand River, about GO miles further 
north, the old pirates of the uj)per Missouri beat the gov- 
ernment and the Indians out of many a dollar's worth of 
goods which should have been issued according to or- 
ders. There was a cei'tain "Major" in charge there for 
a few years, and his yearly salary did iu)t exceed |2,000, 
but he left there worth at least |2r)(),()()0. It did not do 
liim much good, however, for in less than six moiillis he 
was back in tlie Indian coimtry, dead broke, and had to 
work at any thing lu; could fiiul in orik'r to make a living. 
Well, the (J rand River agency was not occiiiucd long, and 
in 1873 the last load of movable material was taken away 
and the place abjmdoned. A new agency was established 
about 45 miles on uj) the MissiMiri liiver. It was biiilt 
on a gently sl()i)ing plateau jns( south of IM'oi)osal Hill, 
and overlooking tlic mighty Missouii. 11 was hci-e (hat 
th(! ])e(uliarly sliapcMl rock was roun^l wlii<h bears the 
l(!gend of tlu; pet li lied sipiaw, her papoose and dog. i'^or 
this reason llu; aucncv was name<l Standing Ivock, and 



86 Taming of the Sioux 

because it is the writer's home, it is being given more 
attention than any of the other agencies in this work. 
Only twelve soldiers were stationed here at first, bnt in 
1876, Capt. (I'ollins, with (Company E, 17th Infantry, was 
sent down from Fort McKean, and the erection of a mili- 
tary post was begun, adjoining the agency on the south. 
In 1877 the first troop of cavalry was stationed here, and 
the post was named Fort Yates, in honor of brave Captain 
Yates, who fell with Custer. 

From this time on this agency and post was the most 
important Sioux taming plant in the Indian country. 
Tons and tons of rations have been issued from this point 
and many thousands of dollars paid out to the Indians. 
Government employees, soldiers, Indian fighters, pretty 
girls, missionaries, tourists and some of the world's most 
famous men have come here, tarried a while and then 
gone on their way, and still the agency remains. The mili- 
tary ])ost was abandoned in 1903, and in the years fol- 
lowing, the old buildings were torn down and the lumber 
given to the Indians to l)uild pretty houses with, but they 
used it for firewood, mostly. 

In the early nineties. Fort ]>ennett was abandoned and 
Cheyenne agency was moved up the Missouri about 80 
miles, where it may be found to this dav. 




Ths Coming of the; Railroad 87 



THE COMING OF THE RAILROAD 

History often lias to deal with the coming of the rail- 
road. Thus in 1872 we find that the Northern Pacific rail- 
road was bnilt as far west as the Missouri River at Bis- 
marck. During the years of '09, '70 and most of '71, the 
Sioux Indians had been rather quiet, for the reason that 
they had not been molested in the country which the gov- 
ernment had set aside for them, for the Red Cloud treaty 
of 18G8 had practically allowed them the right to all the 
country north of the North Platte River, which Hows east 
across the middle of the State of Nebraska, and from the 
Big Horn Mountains to the Missouri River. 

But in the early seventies, the government began to es- 
tablish Indian agencies and forts at different points along 
the Missouri River, and to lay out reservation boundary 
lines within which it proposed to confine the Sioux, and 
teach them how to sow and reap, and eat and sleep in a 
manner new to them, while they could ]une and weep for 
the good old days that were. 

The Northern Pacific railroad wanted to build west to 
the Pacific Coast across the prairies of Dakota and up the 
valley of the Yellowstone, and the government was per- 
fectly willing that it should do so, for it meant a great 
stride toward combining the eastern and western portions 
of our wide country. The railroad company was promised 
sufficient military aid should the Sioux offer any objec- 



Taminc, of the; Sioux 



tious to the progress of the work, and it was expected 
that they would do so very emphatically. 

In 1871 a party of surveyors and a detachment of sol- 
diers under Major p]. M. Baker of the 2nd Cavalry, went 
out from Eozeman, iNIontana, and ran a line east to a point 
on the Yellowstone Kiver neai' the moutli of Pryor's Fork, 
which is about fifteen miles east of the present town of 
Billings. Another expedition under General Whistler left 
Fort nice and went as far as the mouth of the Powder 
River with a preliminary surveying party. While many 
hostile Indians were seen, there was no heavy fighting. 
Major B, F. Slaughter, then stationed at Fort Rice, kept 
a diary and one of his entries reads as follows : 

"October 14, 1871" 
"The great expedition to the Yellowstone, conducted by 
engineers of the Northern Pacific railroad and escorted 
by United States troops, that left Fort Rice, has returned 
having successfully accomplished the exploration and sur- 
vey of a route through Y^ellowstone valley, reaching to 
the river of that name and to the mouth of Powder River. 
The party encountered many hostile Indians and their re- 
turn march is described as a series of constant skirmishes. 
But few lives were lost, however, as every precaution was 
taken to prevent straggling from the main line, it being 
well known the Indian metliod of warfare is to hover 
close to the enemy's outskirts and attack those who stray 
out of sight. Thus were killed Lieut. Adair of the 0th and 
Lieut. Eben Crosby of tlie 17th, two brave and worthy 
officers. Their dreadful death has filled us all with sor- 



The Coming of the; Railroad 89 

row. Lieut. Crosby, following a wounded antelope, had 
ridden out of sight of his party, no Indians having been 
seen that day, and all felt secure, so near home were they 
—a day's ride from the fort. But shortly after he disap- 
peared, a force of Indians appeared in full view on a 
neighboring hill, among them being an Indian called "The 
Gaul," well known at Cheyenne agency, who with deris- 
ive shouts and taunting gestures, displayed some object 
in his hand, which by the aid of field glasses was discov- 
ered to be the scalp of the unfortunate officer. Search was 
at once made and his mutilated body found and taken to 
Fort Rice for burial. 

"How I wish the eastern people could see the Indian 
question as we of the west do, who live in scenes of ter- 
ror and daily have our ears pained and our souls made 
sick by some such tale of bloody tragedy." 

In August of the next year the work was again taken 
up from Pryor's Forks and pushed east, but on the night 
of the 14th the party was attacked by nearly 1,000 war- 
riors under Black Moon, and though the Indians were 
repulsed, the surveyors had been given the greatest fright 
of their lives, and they refused to go on with the work, 
and until more soldiers could be put in the field the work 
had to be abandoned. 

In the same year, 1872, a military post was established 
near the nioutli of the Heart River ui)Ou the crest of a 
high hill overlooking the turbulent waters of the mighty 
Missouri. This post was built for the housing of the 
soldiers that were intended for police duty with the sur- 
veyors and builders of the railroad from the Missouri 



90 Taming oi" Tuii Sioux 

River west. It was named Fort McKeaii and was large 
enough to acx-ommodate three companies of infantry. In 
the following spring General George A. Custer, with the 
7th Cavalry, was ordered from his headquarters at Louis- 
ville, Ky., to Dakota to act as escort for the Northern 
Pacific surveyors, and railroad builders. For his accom- 
modation six large cavalry barracks, with the barns and 
other necessary- buildings were erected at the foot of the 
hill, and the name of the new post was in honor of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. The fort on the hill was then abandoned, 
but until this day, a few suiall trees stand to mark the 
spot, and they may be plainly seen from the windows of 
the Northern Pacific ])assenger trains as they speed ser- 
enely across the big bridge which spans the Missouri 
River between Bismarck and Mandan. General Custer's 
troops was the first cavalry outfit to be stationed in the 
Dakotas along the Missouri River, and proves that the 
gallant Seventh was not afraid of anything, not even the 
rats which, as explained before, were so numerous at llie 
frontier posts. 

When Custer arrived at Yankton, he was ordered to 
proceed on up the Missouri River and report to General 
Alfred H. Terry, who commanded the Department of Da- 
kota. Three steamboats carried the supplies for the com- 
mand, and in charge of one of the boats was Captain 
Grant I*. Marsh, a man whose name will never die along 
the whole length of the old Missouri River, for he lunl 
the misfortune of being such a good steamboat man that 
he was always in great demand, and his success brought 
down u])<)n his luckless head so much of the calumnv of 



'Vnt Coming of the; Railroad 91 

his contemporaries in the business that he never had a 
happy clay in his life, so he often said. 

When the 7th Cavalry arrived at Fort Rice — they 
marched up on the east side of tlie Missouri and crossed 
the stream at the fort — a few days was spent in making 
needed preparations, and farewells were said to the ladies 
who accompanied the command, among whom were Mrs. 
Custer and her sister, Mrs. Calhoun. Then on the 20t]i 
of June the expedition moved forth across the rolling 
prairies in the direction of the Yellowstone River, which 
was in the land of the setting sun. 

The force consisted of the Tth Cavalry (with the ex- 
ception of two troops), live companies of the 22nd Infan- 
try, six companies of the 9th Infantry, four of the 8th. 
two of the Gth, three of the ITth Infantry, and a detach- 
ment of Arickaree scouts, and, of course, a long wagon 
train of six mules Avitli a "mule skinner" to each wagon, 
carrying the necessary supplies. General David S. Stan- 
ley, then colonel of the 22iid Infantry, was placed in com- 
mand by General Terry, and the outfit consisted altogeth- 
er of eighty officers and 1,457 men. They were met a 
short way out from the post by the citizens which com- 
prised the party of surveyors, the engineer in charge be- 
ing General T. L. Rosser, a class and roommate of Gen- 
eral Custer's at West Point. Their meeting on this trip 
was the first in thirteen years, and was decidedly enjoy- 
able to l)oth men. 

The exjiedition followed nearly the same route taken by 
General Sully in 18(31, but it did not meet with nearly so 
manv difficulties. The Indians did not molest the long 



g2 Tamixc. of TiiK Sioux 

column of men, and takinji it all in all, the march proved 
to be rather a delightful outing. 

The steamboats were sent around by river to a point 
about twenty miles above the present city of Glendive, on 
the Yellowstone River, where they were met by the ex- 
pedition and from where the surveyors worked under es- 
cort of the soldiers. In this connection it should be added 
that the rivers were very convenient for the use of the 
army at this time, for Avithout them the steamboats could 
never have made the trip, as they could not go by land. 
The writer has taken pains to verify this most important 
truth, and he has found that all the old timers and vet- 
erans of that campaign are agreed upon it, which in itself 
is a remarkable thing worthy of more than passing notice. 

There had been no signs of "Injuns," and everything 
was going on nicely when, one warm day. Doctor Honzing- 
er, a veterinary surgeon, and Mr. Baliran, the regimental 
sutler, wandered away from the command in search of 
good drinking water. As they refreshed themselves at 
a spring in a coulee, and were searching among the peb- 
bles for curios, seven painted and hostile Sioux came 
down the creek, riding their ponies in single file. They 
were blowing on eagle bone whistles in a brave way, but 
the careless whitemen never saw them until the leader was 
titting an arrow to his l)ow for tlie purpose of doing them 
bodily injury. They sprang to their horses, but Baliran 
failed to catch his, and an arrow jnerced him above the 
abdomen. Ilonzinger succeeded in mounting his horse, 
but it was too heavy and fat to get away from the Indians' 
fleet ponies, and he too was killed. The leader of the 



The; Coming of the Railroad 93 

ludiaiis caught the horse aud counted coup on the man. 
That is to say, he touched him with his coup stick or an 
arrow, and thus gained the honor of the li;illing. 

It turned out later that this Indian was none other 
than Rain-in-the-Face, the Sioux chief of many hyphens, 
who was afterwards immortalized by Longfellow in his 
poem, The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face, some of which 
reads : 

"Revenge, cried Rain-in-the-Face, 

Revenge upon all the race. 
Of the white chief with yellow hair; (Custer.) 

And the mountains dark and high. 
From their crags re-echoed the cry, 
Of his anger and despair." 

On the same day of the killing of the two Avhitemen, 
Custer came near meeting a premature death. He was 
surrounded in a small patch of timber, witli the advance 
guard, by a large war party of Sioux, but was rescued by 
the arrival of several troops which had been sent out to 
find the Indians under Rain-in-the-face. 

There was more fighting between the soldiers and the 
Indians after that, but the latter, in every instance, were 
whipped. The railroad survey was carried to completion, 
and the troops retired gracefully to the garrisons on the 
Missouri River, leaving the country in the hands of the 
now thoroughlj^ aroused Sioux. 

During the long days and nights of the following win- 
ter the soldiers put in the time cutting wood to keep the 
fires a-going, danced gaily in the post halls, and wrote 
long letters to the friends back home ; drew their pay and 



94 Tamixg oi' TJiiv Sroux 

otherwise hud a i^ocxl enoiijiili time, while tlie ludiuiis sat 
around their caiii]* fires and, as Longfellow sa^^s, "Mut- 
tered their woes and grief and the menace of their wrath." 
The despised palefaces w(M-e certainly not doing the right 
thing by them, tliey thought, and the whites were not 
people who would keep their word, for they had promised 
in the treaties not to bother the Sioux in the country 
between the Missouri Kiver and the mountains, and it 
seemed that they could never be trusted again. Some- 
thing must be (h)ue. 

The Black Hills country was the most beloved of all 
the Sioux possessions, and, according to the treaty rights, 
they were to remain unmolested in its possession. How- 
ever, Lieutenant-Genera 1 Philip H. Sheridan, command- 
ing the Military Division of the Missouri, recommended 
that a fort be constructed there for strategical reasons, 
and General Custer was sent out from Fort Lincoln, in 
the summer of 1874, with a large force, to explore the 
Black Hills country an<l make a report as to the feasibil- 
ity of building the fort, and also to report upon the nat- 
ui*al resources of the country. 

His trip was a most enjoyal)le one, as the command 
passe<l through a land of sunshine and flowers, aiul his 
report of wliat he found in the "Hills" was sufficient to 
arouse the whole nation to a fever heat. It was a gold- 
bearing region, and every mother's son in the land, when 
he heard that, felt that if he went there he would surely 
strike it i-ich. The gold fever seized thousands, and a 
grand rush was pre(i])itated to the new Eldorado. But, 
wonder of wonders, tlie I'nited States troops promptly 



The: Coming of the; Railroad 95 

ejected the intnidei's, and for once a ti-eaty with the Sioux 
Avas upheld for a while. However, the clamor of the 
wliite people was too great, and the government was pre- 
vailed upon to til row open the coveted land to settlement 
without delay or regard for any treaties it had foolishly 
made with the Indians. 

It may be i-cadi]y observed that the Sioux did not take 
kindly to this at all. They were real angry about it, but 
what could they do? Their only recourse was to i)ut up 
a tight, and this, we tind, they endeavored to do. In writ- 
ing a history like this it would not be fair to allow the 
Indians to give in to all these impositions without show- 
ing a little spunk, besides, our regard for them would be 
diminished and it Avould make very uninteresting reading 
if they remained ac(|uiescent through it all. But no one 
shall be disappointed on that score, for they did tight, and 
thev fouiiht hard. 




The Passing of Custer 99 



THE PASSING OF CUSTEK 

The Governiiient wanted the Sioux Indians to cease 
their roaming and come in and settle down upon the res- 
ervations that had lately been set aside for them. But 
this the most of them refused to do. They were having a 
perfectly good time hunting and moving about from place 
to place in the land which they considered theirs by right 
of conquest with the neighboring tribes, such as the 
< 'rows, Mandans and Arickarees. They were living their 
lives as their fathers had taught them to, and they could 
not see the proposition in the same light as the Govern- 
ment did at all. 

So early in December of 1875, the Commissioner of In- 
dian Affairs issued an order, or an ultimatum to all these 
roving tribes of the Big Horn River country to come in 
to the reservations at once or he would turn the entire 
United States army upon them. When this order reached 
the Sioux Indian country it was in the throes of an ex- 
••eptionally hard winter. Snow covered the ground to a 
depth which precluded all travel, especially by the women 
and children, and even the scouts who carried this de- 
cree to the camps of the chiefs, could not return to the 
agencies. Even if the Indians liad been inclined to obey 
the order, it would have been foolhardy for tliem to at- 
tempt the long trip, and when they failed to respond, tlie 



lOO 



Taming of the; Sioux 



Commissioner became very impatient and called upon the 
army to forcibly bring tlieni in. 

This brings us np to 1876, that memorable year when the 
Centennial Celebration was held in Philadelphia, or was 
it Pittsburgh? One hundred years before that, certain 
wise men drew up the Declaration of Independence; and 
on June 25th, a century later, almost to the day, what 
remained of the fighting manhood of the North American 
Indians demonstrated their love of their country and lib- 
erty by annihilating General Custer's command in the 
never-to-be-forgotten battle of the Little Big Horn. 

General Phil Sheridan planned the campaign. From 
three different points on the border of the Indian country 
he ordered the concentration of the army. These points 
were Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota; Fort Fetterman, 
Wyoming, and Fort Ellis, Montana. General Terry was 
in charge of operations at Lincoln, General John Gibbon 
at Ellis, and General George Crook at Fetterman. The 
Indians were under the leadership of the great chiefs 
Gall, Crazy Horse, Inkpaduta and Sitting Bull. Their 
forces were concentrated in tlie Little Big Horn country, 
and they had a very formidable outfit at their command, 
nearly 4,000 hostile Sioux warriors. 

On the first day of March, 187G, General Crook left Fort 
Fetterman witli ten troops of cavalry and four companies 
of infantry. On the 17th they captured the village of 
Crazy Horse on the headwaters of the Powder River. But 
the Indians rallied and fell upon the soldiers, forcing 
them to retreat, and tliey were so hard pressed that it was 



The; Passing of Custer lor 

with great difficulty that the command regained the Fort. 
Craz}' Horse had got first blood. 

On March 30th, General Gibbon with six companies of 
the 7th Infantry, and four troops of the 2nd Cavalry, with 
numerous scouts and a long wagon train, moved out of 
Fort Ellis. They were met b}^ very few Indians, and for 
two months they marched down the north bank of the Yel- 
lowstone River, and on June 8th formed a junction with 
the forces of General Terry at the mouth of the Powder. 
The probable reason why the Indians did not molest 
Gibbon was that his command was on the north side of 
the river, which was claimed by the Teton Sioux as the 
northern boundary line of their domain, having wrested 
the land from the Crows as far back as 1822. Had Gib- 
bon's command marched down the south side of the Yel- 
lowstone River instead of the north side, they likely would 
have met some of the Sioux before they got very far. 

On May 29th, General Crook again left Fort Fetter- 
man with forty-seven oflicers and 1,000 men, the largest 
force ever put in the field under one man against the 
Sioux. Crazy Horse sent him word that if he attempted 
to cross the Tongue River he would be attacked. And the 
great chief kept his word, for when Crook had crossed 
the stream and was making his way down the winding 
Rosebud, he was attacked at sunrise of the 17th of -lune, 
by an enormous body of Indians. They fought all day 
and forced him to retreat again, with twenty-seven wound- 
ed and ten dead. In this encounter the Sioux won one 
of the greatest victories of Indian warfare. Crook was 
positively whipped, and had to go into camp, and a very 



I02 Taminc. oi" I UK Sioux 

much surprised man was he. What were the Indians \i\> 
to anyway? But though Crazy Horse couhl probably have 
annihilated Crook's command liad lie renewed the attack 
the next day, he withdrew his warriors in the night and 
hastened to join forces with Gall and the other Sioux 
chiefs in their camp on the Little (old) Big Horn. 

On the morning of May 17th, General Terry left Fort 
Lincoln with twelve troo])s of the 7th (.avalry under com- 
mand of Custer, two companies of the 17th and one of 
the 6th Infantry; a l)attery of three (Tatling guns in 
charge of men of the LlOtli Infantry, and forty Arickaree 
Indian scouts. 

Through an luitortunate turn of events. General Cus- 
ter had evoked the displeasure of President Grant an<l 
Secretary of War Belkna]) ; and but for the solicitations 
in his behalf of Terry and Sheridan, Custer would have 
been prevented from taking any part in the <*anipaign of 
1876. As it was, he went out as Lieutenant Colonel of 
the 7th Cavalry only. 

In lier interesting book, "Hoots (uid SadtUcs,'"' Mrs. Cus- 
ter gives a graphic description of the departure of the 
noble Seventh from I'ort Lincoln. It follows: 

"The morning of the start came only too soon. My hus- 
band was to take sister Margaret and me out for the 
first day's march, so I rode beside him out of camp. (The 
troops had been sent out t)f the post barracks and into 
camp a short distance below the fort while prei)arations 
for the campaign were being made, F. F.) The column 
that followed seemed unending. The grass w^as not then 
suitable for grazing, and as the route of travel was 



The; Passing of Custkr 103 

tliroTigh a barren country, (it is not so considered nowa- 
days, F. F. ) immense qnantities of forage had to be trans- 
ported. The wagons themselves seemed to stretch ont in- 
terminably. There were packmnles, the ])onies already 
laden, and cavalry, artillery and infantry followed, the 
cavalry being in advance of all. The number of citizens, 
employees, liidian sconts and soldiers was alxuit twelve 
hundred. There were nearly seventeen liiindred animals 
in all. 

"As we rode at the head of the column we were tlie rtrst 
to enter the confines of the garrison. About tlie Indians' 
quarters, which we were obliged to pass, stood the s(|uaws, 
the old men and the children singing, or rather moaning, 
a minor tune that has been uttered on the going out of 
Indian warriors since time immemorable. Some of tlie 
squaws crouched on the ground, too burdened witli their 
trouldes to hold up their lieads ; others restrained the 
restless cliildren Avho, discerning their fathers, s(tught to 
follow them. * * * (In passing through the ]»ost 
many sad scenes were enacted as the soldiei-s waved a last 
farewell to their wives and little ones, F. F. and) when 
our band struck up "The Girl I Left Behind Me," the most 
despairing hour seemed to have come. * * * 

''From the hour of breaking cam]), before the sun w as 
up, a mist had enveloped everything. Soon the bright sun 
began to i)enetrate this veil and disp<'l the haze, and a 
scene of wonder and beauty appeared. The cavalry and 
infantry in the oi-der named, the scouts, pack-mules and 
artillery, and behind all the long line of white-covered wag- 
ons, made a column altogether some two miles in length. 



I04 Tamixg of Tiiii Sioux 

As the sun broke llirouuli tlic^ iiiisi ;i luira.nc appeni-cd, 
wliu'h took ii)) about half of the line of cavalry, and thence- 
forth for a little distance it marched, ecjnally ])lain in 
sight on the earth an<l in the sky. 

"The fntnre of the hei-oic band, whose days Avere even 
then nnjubered, seemed to be revealed, and already there 
seemed a premonition in the supernatural translation as 
their forms were reflected from the opaque mist of the 
early dawn. * * * 

"The steamers with suj)i)lies woubl be obliged to leave 
our post and follow up the Missouri to the mouth of the 
Yellowstone, and from thence on to a i)oint on that river 
where the regiment was to make its first halt to renew 
the rations and forage, lie (General ( -uster) was san- 
guine that but a few weeks would elai)se before we could 
be reunited, and used this arginiient to animate me with 
energy to meet our separation. 

"As usual we rode a little in advan<'e and selected camj), 
and watched the a])])r()acli of the regiment with real ])ride. 
They were so accustomed to march, the line hardly di- 
verged from the trail. TIkm-c was a unity of movement 
about them thai made the column at a distance seems like 
a broad dark ribbon stretched smoothly over the prairie. 

"\Ve made our caiiii* (he first night on a small river a 
few miles beyond the post. There the ])aymaster made 
his disbursements, in oi-der that the debts of the soldiers 
might be li(Hii<Iated with the sutler. 

"In the morning the farewell was said, and the ])ay- 
master took sister and me back to the ))ost." 

An<l tlins the liallant Seventh marched a\\a\ t(» defeat. 



The; Passing of Clstkr 



105 




HAIX-IV-THE-FAtE 



io6 Taming of thk Sioux 

Arriviiij; al the ^'(*ll(>^vsloll(^ (Jeiiei'al Teny took iiji his 
headquarters on l)oav<l tlie ^oveiiiiiieiit cliaitered sti'aiuev 
Far ^ycst, ('apt. (xraiit Maisli in coiiiiiiaiKl, and ou June 
8th she left the month of Powder River and steamed up to 
a point about fifteen miles below the Tonoue River, where 
General Gibbon, who had marclied down the Yellowstone 
from Fort Ellis, was met, and a short conference held be- 
tween the two generals. The I'ar AVest tlien returne<] to 
the Powder with Terry, and Gibbon returned to Ids com- 
mand with orders to retrace their steps back n}» the Yel- 
lowstone in order to <ut off tlie possible retreat of the 
Sioux to tlie north across that stream, and to meet Gen- 
eral Terry again opposite the mouth of the Rosebu<l. 

Leaving the infantry and wagons at the Pow<ler River, 
General (Mister, with the cavalry, marched for the Tongue 
River, on .June ir)th, while General Terry and his staff 
followed on board the steamer. Major Reno, with six 
troops of the Seventh, had been scouting south (tf the 
Yellowstone since the lllh, and on the IHtli Tciry re- 
ceived a dis])atch from him stating that he was marching 
down the liosebud. F])on receipt of this infoiiiiatioii 
Terry and Guster hurried on from the moutii of the 
Tongue Kivcr, and on the morning of the -1st they met 
Reno at the month of the Kosebud, and re-iinitcd their 
forces with his. Gibbon's ti(M)ps had arrived on the oppo- 
site shore of the Yellowstone, a week earlier, and the 
three generals held a council of war on board the far 
West. 



The Passing of Custer 107 

It was decided that (Til)l)oii slionld proceed on up the 
Yellowstone to a point ()p])Osite the month of the Big 
Horn, where he would be feiiied over hy the steamer, af- 
ter Avhich he would move up the valley of the Big Horn. 
Custer was to march uj) the valley of the Bosel»ud until 
he struck the trail of a large ho<ly of Indians moving west, 
discovered by Reno, and then he would turn west, follow- 
ing the trail, and strike the valley of the Big Horn at 
about the time General Gibbon would reach that point, 
when the two commands would unite to crush the Sioux, 
who it was believed were encamped somewhere on the Big 
Horn, or on the Little Big Horn, which enters the Big 
Horn from the southeast. From all indications the gen- 
erals believed their numbers did not exceed 800 warriors. 
Later developments ju'oved that there were at least 3,000 
warrions, and nearh' 12,000 persons in all in the great 
Sioux camp, enjoying themselves by scouting and hunt- 
ing during the day, and dancing and telling stories during 
the night. 

With a brave farewell, Custer left Terry and (iibbon 
and the steamer Far West at the mouth of the Bosebud on 
the afternoon of -lune L'L'nd. His Hue long hair had been 
cut — a bad omen among frontiersmen — but he wore his 
suit of buckskin, and headed his troops in ])icturesque 
array up the green and smiling valley of the Bosebud. 
His command consisted of 588 enlisted men and 31 officers, 
comprising 12 troops of the 7th Cavalry, the entire regi- 
ment ; and live white scouts, twenty-tive Bee and six 
Crow scouts, and a long train of pack mules carrying 
provisions and ammunition. .Vs his personal guests he 



io8 TaxMing ok Tim Sioux 

liad Aiitie Reed, a iici)lie\v, IJostoii Custer, a brother, and 
Mark Ivellog, newspaper correspondent for tlie New Yorl? 
Herald and the Bismarck Tribune. 

On the evening of the 24th the command camped at a 
point where the large Indian trail, previously discovered 
by Reno, turned west in the direction of the Little Big 
Horn River. They were now about 85 miles to the south 
and above the mouth of the Rosebud. 

At eleven o'clock that night Custer moved forward, up 
through the hills to the west, hoping to get over to the 
valley of the Little Big Horn, by daylight, in order to 
strike the Indian camp, which was supposed to be located 
there. But at 2 a. m., whicli was now the 2r)tli, and Sun- 
day, he found that lie could not make it, so the command 
was again halted and a rest taken until 6 o'clock. They 
then crossed the divide l)et\veen the Rosebud and Little 
Big Horn, and at about 8 o'clock the scouts reported the 
location of the huge Indian camp, as it lay basking in the 
warm morning sunlight on the Avest side of the Little IMg 
Horn, or Greasy Grass, as it was called by the Indians. 
It was still several miles away, but the Sioux scouts from 
it could be seen standing afar on the hilltops watching 
the advance of the trooi)s, and wondering, probably, why 
they were desecrating the Sabbath day hj looking for a 
tight. Had Custer gone into camp right then and ob- 
served the day of rest as he should have done, he might 
liave lived to tell a dittei-ent story than is being set down 
here. 

In the great Indian camp there were seven distinct 
tribes, as follows: I'ncpapas, under Chiefs Gall and 



The Passing of Custe;r 109 

Black Moon ; some Saiitees and Yauktonais, iiuder Iiikpa- 
diita, the renegade chief of the Minnesota outbreak ; Black- 
feet, under Scabby Head ; Minneconjous, under Fast Bull ; 
San Arces, under Fast Bear, and the allies of the Sioux, 
the Northern Cheyennes, under Ice Bear, and some Arapa- 
hoes. 

Sitting Bull was the great chief and leading spirit 
among all the Indians assembled, his power accruing from 
his abilities as a medicine man and prophet, and saga- 
cious counselor. It is claimed that he was not a great 
brave, in the true sense, and preferred to do his fighting 
on paper, as it were, in the quiet seclusion of the council 
tepee. And when the soldiers came in sight that morning 
he busied himself in helping the women to pack what they 
could for instant flight, and as the fight progressed he 
left the camp with his women and children and struck 
out for the fastnesses of the Big Horn Mountains to the 
west. He was well on his way, when he was overtaken 
by a courier who informed him that the whites were 
whipped, Avhereupon he returned to the camp and claimed 
all the credit for the victory, for he had prophesied it the 
day before, and prayed to the Great Spirit to bring it 
about, and then went off in the hills in order to protect 
his sacred person from injury, in order that his people 
would not lose so valuable a man as he. Of all things 
Sitting Bull was a beforehanded man. 

At 9 o'clock, Custer halted the command and had of- 
ficers' call sounded by his trumpeter. After a short con- 
sultation with his subordinates, he ordered Major M. A. 
Keno to take three troops and a company of Bee scouts 



no Taminc; of THK SfOUX 

and proceed stiaij^lil ahead in a northwesterly direction, 
to ford the river and strike tlie Indian camp at the sonth 
end, which was the n]) river end as the Little Bi<> Horn 
flows to the northwest, ('apt. F. W. Benteen, with three 
troops was directed to move west and cross the river at 
a convenient ford, and scont to the sonth of the camp, 
where he wonld be safe from any chance to cover him- 
self with glory, and where he might be able to cnt oft" the 
possible retreat of the Indians who wonld naturally strike 
for the mountains, (.'apt. T. M. McDougall, for certain 
reasons, was late in attending the council of officers, and 
Custer, though he liked him, told him to take his troop 
and guard the i)ack train in the rear, a duty that was in 
the form of a reprimand for his unseemly tardiness. Ois- 
ter, with the remaining live troops, continued toward 
the north end of the camp, and expected to cross the river 
and strike it there, tlnis liemming the innocent Indians 
between two tires, liis and Keno's, and possibly three 
tires, should IJenteen get b(diind the cam]) soon enough. 

At 11 o'clock, as the day was growing very warm, and 
the good ])eople of the eastern states were attending 
church in safety, (Juster came in sight of the Indian camp. 
He could see but a small |)ortion of it through the gaps 
in the foot hills, and i)r<>l>ably did not realize that it ex- 
tended for nearly four miles along the opposite side of 
the stream, and thai it contained approximately 12,000 
souls, and nobody knows how many dogs. It was about 
two miles distant and looke<l very peaceful and somno- 
h'lii in the hot summer sun. Many ponies were grazing 
on the partly green hills back of it, and with the winding 



Thh; Passing of Custer hi 

stream l>efore it, fringed with brnsli and patolies of lieavy 
timber here and there, must have presented a wonderful 
scene of primordial simplicity. 

Bnt to the seasoned Indian fighters who rode with the 
command, the huge camp had other aspects besides be- 
ing pretty. It contained the potential fighting strength 
of tlie great Sioux nation, and it seemed to be lying there 
as a great creature waiting to spring at the offenders at 
the slightest i)rovocation. To tliese men, avIio were not 
out looking for fame or fortune, there was born a con- 
sciousness of tills latent ]>o\ver spread before them, and 
they were decidedly apprehensive, and the Indian scouts 
were even more so, for they had prepared themselves for 
deatli l>v being annointed by their medicine men and in- 
dulging in solemn prayer-dances. And old "Mich" I>uyer, 
('uster's leading scout, is said to have remarked senten- 
tiously, "Well, 30U bet you are going to have a hell of 
a big fight I" 

To the men in the ranks, mere automatons, the bold ad- 
vant^e of the cavalry was in itself ominous. The very dust 
that arose in clouds from the column as it wound about 
through the hills, the sfpieak, squeak of the saddles, the 
tinkle of the accouterments, the cough of the horses, and 
the crunch, crunch of their hoofs as they toiled through 
the grass, were familiar sounds of the daily march now 
made portentious of imi)euding disaster. And the 
thoughts of these men must have dwelt (Hi many things, 
on the well-remembere<l scenes at home — of mothers, 
sweethearts and wives, and thus it was that they almost 
meclianically drank deep and hearty from the canteens 



112 Taaii.nc. oi' tjil; Sioux 

of wliisky that were freely sni)plied them in order to bol- 
ster up tlicir courage, yon know. 

Reno crossed the river, as directed, and a])])roached the 
camp from the soutli, bnt soon he found that instead of 
Heeing before him in panic-stricken disarray, the Indians 
were coming toward him in most astonishing numbers. 
A patch of heavy tind)er on the river nearby Avelcomed 
him and he sought protection there. Dismounting Ids 
men, he made a stand of short duration, in which he 
lost heavily, and then seeing that the odds were too great, 
he remounted his men and retreated precipitately across 
the river, and climbed the heights there and gathered his 
men around him on top of a high hill overlooking the 
valley and the camp below. In the meantime Benteen 
had also crossed the river, but had not gone far when he 
received an order from Custer hastily written by liis ad- 
jutant, Lieut. AV. W. Cook. It said: "Benteen, come on. 
Big village. Be quick, Bring packs, P (S) bring packs." 
He turned ])ack, recrossed the river and moved down the 
east side until he found Reno's command on the hill, 
where he decided it was best for him to remain, as it was 
patent that he could not reach Custer. Capt. McDougall 
also joined Reno, with the pack train, and the combined 
commands prepared to hold otf the Indians as well as 
they could. But the Sioux had not followed Reno in large 
numbers as the approach of Custer was heralded through 
the cam I) and the most of the warriors raced back through 
the camp to meet him at the north end, leaving only 
enough men to keep Reno from moving down from the 
hill. 



The Passing of Custer 



113 




LOON, A YOrNi! SIOI'X 



114 Taming of tiiiv Sioux 

To Reno's coiiiiiiaiid came the sounds of heavy tiring to 
the north where Custer was some place hidden from view 
in the hills, and Captain Weir with one troop was sent 
forth to the rescue, but soon returned, as the Indians were 
very thick in that direction. 

Presently, or along toward the middle of the afternoon, 
the tiring ceased, and at six o'clock Reno was furiously 
attacked. This engagement lasted until nine o'clock, when 
the Indians drew off in order to celebrate the doings of 
the day by indulging in large victory dances given by each 
of the separate bands in their camps. Reno was left with 
18 men killed and 4() wounded. He threw up intrench- 
ments and fortitied himself as well as he could by the aid 
of the carcasses of the dead horses and mules. The men 
suffered cruelly from thirst as the day had been very 
warm and the constant fire of the Sioux sharpshooters 
prevented them from going down to the river for water, 
tliough several men met death in vain attempts to do so. 

\>ry early on the morning of the next day, Reno was 
again atta<'ked in one of the most furious assaults ever 
known to have been made by hostile Indians. I( lasted 
from 2 :.S() a. m., until the middle of the forenoon, when 
after a grand charge in which the ]>ainted Indians came 
near enough to use their arrows, they withdrew. So well 
were the soldiers intrenched, however, that very few were 
killed or wounded. 

As the day advanced the Indians were seen to be mak- 
ing pre]>arations toward breaking cam]), and that even- 
ing tliey set tire to the ])rairie grass, and moved off" to the 
west under cover of the smoke, in a great horde, in the 



The Passing of Custer 115 

♦•eiieral direction of* the mountains. The reason for their 
going was that during the day their scouts had brought 
in the startling news that the country to the north, along 
the Big Horn River, was full of the ''walking" soldiers, 
and they were coming. This was Terry's and Gibbons' 
commands, and the Indians felt that they had had enough 
lighting, besides their ammunition was running low, and 
dissension had come among them. 

Terry's entire command consisted of four troops of the 
I'nd Cavalry, five companies of the Tth Infantry, and a 
battery of gattling guns. At 10 :30 o'clock on the next 
day, which was tlie 27th of June, he readied tlie Custer 
battlefield and joined forces with Keno, who had that 
morning moved down from the hill to the river and was 
busily engaged in taking care of his wounded and reor- 
ganizing his forces. On the opposite side of the river, 
nothing but the ashes of the dead camp fires, the crushed 
grass where the tepees had stood and the dry bones of 
dead animals, which had been killed for food, remained 
to show where the great Sioux nation had camped. 

Tntil this time nothing had been heard from Cus- 
ter, and when the men of Terry's and Reno's commands 
visited the battle ground, the sad evidences of the terrific 
struggle was conveyed to them by the remains of Custer 
and his men lying where they fell. 

Briefly, Custer had marched his men toward the north 
along the crest of the hills bordering the valley until he 
came to a point opposite the end of the camp. Then he 
turned toward the river, and as he rode down onto the 
bottom land he or<lered his men to charge, for the In- 



ii6 Taming of thi<: Sioux 

diaus were coming towards him in large numbers from the 
other side of the stream. He was met by overwhelming 
odds and immediately retreated toward the hills. Gall 
and Crazy Horse, and no doubt other chiefs as well, sent 
many of their Avarriors up through the ravines to get be- 
hind the soldiers. Gaining the top of the hill, Custer dis- 
mounted the men of two troops and sent the horses down 
in a ravine, four horses being led by one man, but there 
was no time to carry out any defined plan of defense. The 
Indians charged from the hills and rode right over the 
soldiers, and in a very few minutes every man was killed 
or dying, and the Indians were swarming over the field, 
brandishing their rifles and shooting in all directions, in- 
toxicated Avith victory. 

With Custer, that day, fell 191 enlisted men, twelve 
officers, four civilians and two CroAv scouts. The most 
prominent names as preserved by the historians are Capt. 
M. W. Keogh, Capt. Tom Custer, brother of the general, 
Capt. Geo. W. Yates, Lieut. James Calhoun, and Autie 
Reed, Boston Custer, "Mich" Buyer and Mark Kellogg, 
civilians. 

The total loss of men, including those who fell Avith 
Reno Avas 24G enlisted men, sixteen officers, eleven civ- 
ilians and scouts, Avhile the Avounded numbered fifty-two. 
According to reliable accounts the Indians lost only sixty- 
three killed during all the fighting, while the number 
wounded has never been determined as they were carried 
away by their friends. 

Under the direction of General Terry the bodies of Cus- 
ter's men Avere identified and buried Avhere theA' fell, and 



The Passing of Custer 117 

Reno's wounded Avere carried, with great difficulty, to the 
month of the Little Big Horn and placed aboard the 
steamer Far West. 

Captain Grant Marsh, after ferrying Gibbon's command 
across the Yellowstone at the mouth of the Big Horn, had 
succeeded in forcing his boat up the latter mountain tor- 
rent by the aid of lines put out on both sides of the boat 
ahead and fastened to trees, while the other ends were 
passed around the capstans on the forecastle. It was 
necessary to do this most of the way, a distance of fifty- 
three miles, as the stream was so swift that the stern 
wheel of the boat was not powerful enough to push her 
against it. The bringing of the boat to this point was 
done in order to place the supplies she carried as near 
as possible to the field of operations. It was a feat never 
before accomplished, and probably has not since been 
duplicated, and the Far West was not a small boat, either, 
being 190 feet long by 33 in Avidth, and she could carry 
400 tons on 4 1-2 feet of water. 

So, now we have the story of the Custer fight as it is 
preserved for us by many diligent historians. We have 
heard the battle described from the whiteman's viewpoint, 
but seldom do we find an account of it from the Indian's 
side. There were in the neighborhood of 12,000 Indians 
in the vicinity of the fight at the time, and I am sure that 
if we could get each one to give us his version of it, we 
would have just 12,000 stories, each different in certain 
particulars, no two would be alike. Therefore, we may 
as well content ourselves, in this work, with what one 
Sioux has had to say. Through the aid of an interpreter, 



ii8 Taming of the; Sioux 

and in his language, I have the story of old Paints Brown 
to offer; I give it as 'twas told to me: 

"Paints Brown said that the soldiers were first seen 
by the Indian scouts quite early, and when they came in 
sight of the camp, the sun Avas rather high. It must have 
been about eight o'clock, for In'eakfast was over, but the 
fires were still smoking. 

"There was not much excitement, and at first we 
thought it would be better to surrender as there were so 
many soldiers in the country, but when Custer came in 
poked and hit the interpreter quite hard at times as he 
sight, tiiere were not so many, and the word was seni 
around the camp to get ready. We sneaked from our 
tents tlirough the tall grass to where our ponies were 
picketed and drew them to us by the long ropes. I was 
one of the first to mount, but the others followed quick- 
ly, and we raced towards the soldiers as the bullets came 
switching through the grass and through the leaves of 
the trees. But we were not excited. (Reno's bullets.) 

"And we fought, and the soldiers fought, and when we 
chased the first lot across the river, we turned and went 
for those on the hills. The smoke and dust was very 
thick — you couldn't see anything, and we killed lots of 
our own men because they got in the way. 

"Pretty soon the soldiers started to run and we went 
after them, but it wasn't long before they were all killed 
or wounded. We couldn't tell who was Custer — we could 
n't tell anything, their faces were covered with dust and 
their eyes and mouths were full of it." 



The^ Passing of Custer 119 

The interpreter said that old Paints Brown grew very 
much excited as he told the story, and jumped from his 
chair every now and then and danced around, and made 
motions like he was shooting a gun or an arrow, as he 
endeavored to illustrate with convincing gestures his 
story, and whenever he got to going too ferocious it was 
necessary to give him another drink out of the bottle to 
sort of appease his feelings, as it w^ere. The most inter- 
esting part of his story follows: 

"We found a soldier sitting against the dead body of 
his horse. He was alive, but had been shot through the 
abdomen. He could speak a little Sioux, and he said — 
'My friends, I am in a bad Avay, I wish you would take 
me to a tent.' We got off our horses aud crowded around, 
and one of us spoke up, 'Why, he is my friend!' 'Yes,' 
he replied, 'I was at Standing Eock and at Fort Lincoln.' 
We got on our horses again, and two of us reached down 
and took him under the armpits and tried to lead him 
away, but he said, 'Oli, I can't walk, my legs hurt I' And 
then he dropped down and died. 

"We were looking around and we found Captain Keogh, 
but left him alone, for we saw that he wore a scapulary, 
aud we said that he was a Black Robe man. We dressed 
ourselves in the uniforms and put on the swords, and took 
the flags and bugles and marched around, and we marched 
toward Reno that way too. 

"And Reno was up on a hill across from our camp, and 
his men were lying in trenches, and they didn't have any 
water all day, and it was very hot. Once in a while a 
soldier >n ould start down tlie ])luff, a-sneaking through 



I20 Taming of tiik Sioux 

the j'rass. He'd stop and lay still and then heVl crawl 
aloni»- again, and we'd let him get pretty close to the riv- 
er's edge, and we'd shoot him. Once a soldier got clear 
down to the water and drank, and filled some ronnd things 
with stoppers in them with water (army canteens) and 
started back, but we played with him and shot him. 

"And we did n't see Sitting Bull, He was off somewhere 
in the hills with the women, I think. We saw Comanche, 
the horse — the only one that got out of the fight — going 
toward the river. It was Keogh's horse, and it was 
wounded and walked very slow. We did not think much 
about it and let it go, and the whites got it. But we didn't 
see Sitting Bull. 

"The soldiers had lots and lots of money, and we took 
it. We knew what the silver was, but the paper we didn't 
know. And the children played with it, they made little 
tepees out of it, and put about one hundred dollars in 
bills together and made toy shawls, and some of it was 
blood3\ 

"And after we saw what we had done, some of us 
thought we would get hung like the Indians did at Man- 
kato, and some of us thought we would not get any ra- 
tions if we went back to the reservations; and we heard 
that the country was full of more white soldiers coming, 
and we were all scared, so we broke camp next day and 
left. We traveled at night, to the north, and camped 
during the day. We sent out scouts in every direction, 
but didn't see any soldiers. We brought our wounded 
with us, and they died all along the way, and we buried 
them, and our hearts were bad. The women also buried 



The Passing of Custkr 121 




SIOUX MOTHER AND CHILD 



122 Taming of the: Sioux 

lots of the trinkets, like rings and things they took from 
the dead soldiers, because we were soared. We had done 
more than we thought we ever could do, and we knew 
that the whites Avere very strong, and would punish us." 

Thus Paints Brown gives us his impressions of that his- 
toric fight when the flower of the noble Seventh Cavalry 
went down to defeat. But those brave men have per- 
petuated their memory forever with the patriotic Ameri- 
can people. They i-ode unflinchingly to certain death, 
while acting in the line of duty. They were not fighting 
to protect their homes — as Blato says, "Soldiering was 
their business, not money-making'' — there was nothing 
personal about it. They had sworn to go where they were 
told, and without a (luestioning word, they followed their 
dashing leader, that coming generations might live in 
peace and prosperity in the land they so gallantly fought 
for. Mrs. Custer closes her story, Boots and Saddles, by 
telling how she and the other women of Fort Lincoln 
sought solace by gathering at "our liouse" on Sunday 
afternoon, June 25tli, on the very day that the fight took 
place, but of which they w^ere not apprised until several 
days later. She says: 

"* * * Our little group of saddened women, borne 
down with one common weight of anxiety, sought solace 
in gathering at our house. We tried to find some slight 
surcease frcmi tr()u1)le in th(^ old hymns, some of which 
dated back to our childhood days, when our mothers 
rocked us to sleep to their soothing strains. I rememlier 
the grief with which one fair young wife threw herself 
on the carpet and pillowed her head in the lap of a tender 



Thi: Passing of Custer 123 

friend. Another sat dejected at the piano, and struck 
soft chords that melted into the notes of the voices. All 
were absorbed in the same thoughts, and their eyes were 
tilled with far-away visions and longings. Indescribable 
yearning for the absent, and untold terror for their safety 
engrossed each heart. The words of the hymn — 
'E'en though a cross it be, 
Xearer my God, to thee.' 
came forth with almost a sob from every throat. 

"At that very hour the fears that our tortured minds 
liad portrayed in imagination were realities, and the souls 
of those we thought upon ^^ere ascending to meet their 
Maker." 

We can only bow our heads in mute sympathy for those 
splendid women for whom the disaster was profoundly 
more terrible than it was for anyone else. They bore the 
heaviest burden of all, having lived in such intimate asso- 
ciation with the men who fell, sharing with them all the 
exciting phases of their frontier life; constantly appre- 
hensive that some such calamity befall their loved ones 
— their anguish in this time of despair must have been 
w ell-niffh unbearable. 



The; Beginning of a New Order 125 



THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ORDER OF THINGS 

The whole of the lower deck of the steamer Far West, 
aft of the boilers, was converted into a huge sick bed for 
the wounded, and they were made as comfortable as pos- 
sible. "Comanche," Iveogh's horse, the only animal that 
survived to return to the whites, was also taken aboard 
and placed in an improvised stall in the engine room be- 
tween the rudder posts. 

After all preparations had been duly made, Captain 
Marsh started his boat down the narrow and swift waters 
of the Big Horn River. At the mouth of that stream, the 
boat w'aited two days for the arrival of Gibbons' com- 
mand, W'hich had to be ferried over the Yellowstone to 
the north shore, so it was not until 5 o'clock on the after- 
noon of July 3rd that she finally got away for the run 
down the Yellowstone and Missouri to Fort Lincoln. It 
w^as a distance of 710 miles and she made the run in 54 
hours flat. She made three landings, once at the mouth 
of the Powder to bury one of the men wdio died on the 
way, and at Fort Buford to put off a wounded Ree, and at 
Fort Stevenson. Then with flags at half mast she dropped 
swiftly down the Missouri, wliich, fortunately, was high 
and wide with the June rise, and she reached Bismarck, 
five miles above Lincoln, at 11 o'clock on the night of 
July 5tli, and brought the flrst authentic news to the 
world of the Custer fight. 



126 Taming of the Sioux 

Capt. Marsh was inastoi- and pilot, but of course he did 
not bring the boat down all alone. lie had otlier good men 
and true with him, and his second pilot, old Dave Camp- 
bell, was as good a navigator as ever cast his eagle eye 
over the murky waters of the mighty "Mizoo." It may 
be said here that he died at Yankton a few years ago with- 
out leaving any worldly goods behind, and Captain Marsh 
also went to his reward on -lanuary 2nd, 1916, and was 
buried in the Catholic cemetery at Bismarck, and he too 
left nothing but fond memories of him behind. 

At 2 o'clock on the morning of July 6th, the Far West 
backed away from the IJismarck landing, swung around 
and straightened out for Fort Lincoln. Arriving there the 
wounded were placed in tlie ])ost hospital, and the widows 
and orphans of the men wiio fell learned the truth for 
the first time, and most awful was their sorrow. 

General Sheridan now rushed additional troops into 
the field, as the forces of Terry and Cook and Gibbon 
were badly crip]»led. He ordered Crook to join Terry, and 
sent Lieut. -Colonel E. S. Otis, with six companies of the 
22nd Infantry; Colonel AVesley Merritt, with the Fifth 
Cavalry, and Colonel Nelson A. Miles, with six companies 
of the Fifth Infantry, into the Indian country. Merritt 
was sent overland to find and join Crook, while the forces 
of Miles and Otis were taken up the Missouri from Bis- 
niaick. several steamboats being recpiired to transi)ort 
tliem and the supi)lies, and they joined General Terry at 
the mouth of the Big Horn on the Yellowstone River. 

linmeiliately after tlu' Cnslei- light the big Sioux c<mi- 
federation lia<i bi-okcn ii|» in numerous small bands and 



The Beginning of a New Order 127 

scattered to the four winds, and it was the duty of the 
army to find and subjugate them, wliirh was by no means 
an easy task. 

In the early part of August, after the forces in the 
lield liad been reorganized, Terry marched up the Rose- 
bud and met Crook and Merritt. Crook liad found a large 
Indian trail leading toward the east, and the officers 
agreed, after duly consulting the scouts, that the Indians 
would turn north again and cross the Yellowstone River 
and make for the Canadian line, across which they would 
be safe from pursuit by the United States troops. So 
Colonel Miles and his infantry were sent back to patrol 
the Yellowstone, with the assistance of the good boat Far 
West, which by this time had returned to the scene of 
action with a load of supplies. 

Terry ami ('rook followed the l)ig trail to the east until 
they reached the Tongue Riyer, and descending tliat 
stream, they came to the Yellowstone, and marched down 
its timbered south shore until they arrived at the mouth 
of the Powder River, and still they found no "Injuns."' 

The Far AA'est was at the Powder, and after the tr()oi)S 
had i-ested. Crook started south on the 2Ith of August, and 
Terry followed tlie next day. Crook continued on toward 
the Black Hills, and on the way met Chief American 
Horse at Slim Buttes, and on the 14th day of September, 
killed the chief and captured the village. By running a 
line nortliAvest from Rabbit Butte, and another line north- 
east from the Buttes Where the Crows Were Slain, in 
nortlnvestern South Dakota, Slim Buttes will be foiiiul 
at the convergence of the two lines. Before Crook could 



128 'J'ami.xc oi" Till-: Sioux 



get away from (liis |)l;i('(% Crazy Jlorse fell upon his rear, 
but in the li^i>lit whicli followed, the cliief of niisoniid mind 
was whipped, but tlie Indians followed Crook all the way 
to the Black Hills, and tired u])on the command whenever 
the opportunity was opi)ortune. 

Meanwhile, Terry had returned to the Yellowstone, on 
advice received from Miles that many Indians were hov- 
ering' in the vicinity of the present cit^' of Glendive. The 
trail was found to cross the Yellowstone and Missouri 
Rivers on a line with I'ort Peck, and Terry i)ushed on into 
the unknown regions north of the Missouri and scouted 
around for several days, but finding no Indians lie re- 
turned to the Yellowstone at Glendive. 

With General Crook, at the time he joined forces with 
Terry that summer, was a certain scout who was known 
on the frontier as liuffalo lUll. This name had been given 
him for the reason that he was a great hunter of the 
Amei'ican ])ison, having killed 4,2S0 head in eigiiteen 
months, single-handed, lie was sent with Miles on the 
Far West when the boat was used to scout along the Yel- 
lowstone, that season, and the three masters of their re- 
spective i>rofessions became fast an<l enduring friends, 
General Miles, Captain March and BulTalo i>ill. A fron- 
tier ])0(;t, who never accjuired much fame, sang thusly 
about ihis scout : 

"In the days of ol<l. in the days of new — 

In the days of sixty-nine; 
Oh, l>ulTalo [till, he could out-roar 

A buffalo hull, you bet I 
HeM i-oai- all day an' he'd roar all )iight. 

All' I miess lie's a-roarin' vet." 



Thk Beginning of a Ne;w Order 



129 




BLUE THUNDER— SCOTT AND CAMP CRIER 



130 T.v.Mixc. oi' TiiK Sioux 



Buffalo UilTs i-tnil iiamc was \Villiaiu F. Cody, and lie 
must be referred to in the past tense now, for he died on 
January 10. 1917, full of fame and years. 

Never again will the world know just such a character 
as he, for after he was made the mold was broken. And 
the mold was the whole great Indian country through 
which he scouted. The wild, free environment was the 
making of him, and being an o])i)ortunist, he went gaily 
on his way from a buffalo hunter and scout to the hon- 
ored fi-iend of kings. His name is a household word and 
the small boy's pride wherevei- the I^nglish language is 
spoken. 

Ah, l>ill, how many a fair la<ly"s lu^art you have set a 
fluttering, too. Romantic, ]>ictures(iue hero of the plains, 
here's wishing you luck on your trip to the TTai)py Hunt- 
ing (rrounds. lint be easy on the buffalo there, or you may 
have trouble with your old friend, Sitting Bull, and all 
the otluM- s])irit <'hiefs of the bygone days, who might not 
like the idea of having their beloved buffalo ghosts all 
shot full of holes. And if they should throw you out, 
you will fall for as long as two or three weeks, perhaps. 
So, be careful. Bill, as Captain Marsh admonished you 
when you started on a seventy-five mile ride at night 
through a hostile Indian country wiTh dis]>atches for 
Crook in the year 1S7(). "Be careful, I>ill." 

As the fall advanced many of the erstwhile hostiles be- 
gan to drift into the reservations, and they ai)peare(l at 
the agencies, casual like they luul been away all summer 
on a visit to their wife's i-elatives som(» place, and now 



The Beginning oi- a New Order 131 

that winter was coming on they had returned so that 
they eonld help the good father at Washington out in the 
issuing of rations he had ready at tlie agencies, by carry- 
ing them away. 

In October, Terry took away the arms and ponies from 
the Indians who liad gathered at the Standing Rock and 
( 'heyenne agencies, and Crook performed the same duty at 
tlie Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies, and sadness 
reigned among tlie Sioux once more. 

During the same month, Colonel Otis had a fight with 
a large force of Indians under Gall and Sitting Bull while 
lie was en route with a wagon train bound for a new 
fort at the mouth of the Tongue River, afterwards called 
Fort Keogh, in honor of Captain Keogli, who fell with 
Custer. Colonel Miles come out from the ])0st to assist 
Otis, and he captured many of the Sioux, but Gall au<l 
Sitting Bull, with about 300 Indians of their own bands, 
tied north and crossed the Canadian line. 

Meanwhile, oh meanwhile! a treaty was being made 
with the good Sioux who were found loitering about the 
agencies. A commission of seven smart men was appoint- 
ed to carry the thing through, and they succeeded very 
well. The treaty provided that all tlie land within the 
following boundary lines would hencefcn'th be reserved 
for the Dakota Sioux: From the north Nebraska line, 
on the Missouri River, up that stream to the Cannon Ball, 
and following it west to the 103 meridian, which comes 
down from the north pole about 50 miles east of the west- 
ern border of North Dakota and enters South Dakota a 
little west of Big Nastv Creek ; thence the line continued 



132 Taming 01^ thU Sioux 

south to the north fork of the Cheyenne River, and down 
tliat stream to the forks, and np the south fork to the 
103rd meridian again, and down that to the Nebraska line, 
and east along that to the starting point on the Missouri 
River. 

Now, this was a very sizable piece of country, and it 
would seem that the Sioux should have been satisfied ; but 
it left out the Black Hills and Powder River country, 
blessed possessions, for which they were promised a cer- 
tain amount of rations until they should no longer need 
them. According to the Laramie treaty, no agreement 
could be made with these Indians, unless three-fourths 
signed the treaty. But the commission overlooked this, 
the treaty being secured by approaching each individual 
chief and other Indians wlio were to be found and who 
were willing to sign. The Sioux thus alfected have not 
gotten over talking about tliat treaty yet, and during the 
last few years tliey have maintained an organization called 
the Black Hills Treaty Association, which holds meetings 
each year at the various agencies for the purpose of 
studying the treaty with the intention of presenting a 
claim against the government for additional reimburse- 
ments for the territory ceded under it. Some think that 
Uncle Sam owes them about |9,000,000 on the deal, but it 
will probably be a hard matter to prove it. 

"It was on the 6th day of May, 1877 (From Doane 
Robinson's History of the Sioux.) that Crazy Horse with 
889 of his people, and 2,000 ponies, came into Camp Rob- 
inson (The site of this small post may be found in the 
northwestern corner of any good map of Nebraska, F. F.) 



The; Beginning of a New Order 133 

and surrendered to (jeneral Crook in person ; and Gen- 
eral Sheridan reported that 'The Sioux War is now over.' 
* * * After tlie surrender, Crazy Horse remained 
(piietly about Fort Robinson until the latter ])art of the 
summer, when lie again became uneasy and discontented 
and gaye indications of another outbreak, which led Gen- 
eral Crook to conclude that it would be the part of wisdom 
to place him uikUm- arrest and contine him as a prisoner. 
AYhile entering the guard house he broke loose from those 
al)out him and attem])ted to make his escape by hewing 
liis way with a knife thr<mgh the circle of sentinels and 
other bystanders. In the melee which resulted he was 
fatally wounded and died the same night, September 5, 
1S77. After his deatli general harmony reigned and the 
main body of the Indians became anxious to establish and 
maintain the most frien<lly relations with the whites. 

"Under the IJlack Hills ti-eaty it was agreed tliat in the 
event that the lirules and Oglalas di<l not elect to take up 
a new home in Indian Territory they should remove to 
new agencies near the Missouri River, where it would be 
convenient to furnish them with their supplies, * * * 
I Spotted Tail and several of his wise men were taken 
down to the Indian Territory of Oklahoma, but they did 
not like the country, and they returned north in the fall 
of 1877) "It was, however, November 1, 1877, before the 
emigration actually took place (to the agencies on the 
Missouri River. !•'. 1'. 1 The two cam])s, Spotted Tail's 
and Red Cloud's, moved at the same time in ])arall('] col- 
umns about forty miles apart. For some reason not ex- 
]>lained. Crazy Horse's band traveled witli Spotted Tail. 



134 Taming oi* the: Sioux 

AVlieii they had moved down about seventy -live miles, 
about 2,000 of the Crazy Horse Indians, bearing with them 
tlie body of their late chief, broke away from the Spotted 
Tail column and came over to Red Cloud's band, and by 
exhibiting- Crazy Horse's body and in other ways, attempt- 
ed to incite them to hostilities, but failing in this, a 
large part of them struck off to the north and back into 
the Powder River country, while a few of them remained 
with Red Cloud and the remainder returned to Spotted 
Tail. On the 25th of November, after great hardship and 
suffering. Red Cloud reached the Missouri River near the 
mouth of the Yellow Medicine (nearly opposite Pierre, F, 
F. ) midway between the mouth of the White River and 
the Great Bend, where they settled down (juietly and 
spent the winter. About the same time Spotted Tail and 
his band arrived at the old Ponca Agency (a few miles 
above Sioux City, on the Nebraska side of the Missouri 
River, F. F. ) where they took u^) their residence for the 
winter. Neither band was satisfied with the locations, 
and as spring advanced began to prepare for another re- 
moval. Red Cloud and his people went back and estab- 
lished themselves at the Pine Ridge agency, where they 
still remain, and Spotted Tail and his people set u]) at 
Rosebud." 

Both of these great Sioux chiefs are now dead. Spotted 
Tail was killed in 1881 by a jealous rival chief, and Red 
Cloud died about ten years ago of his senility, being close 
to S5 years of age. 

In the spring of 1881, Gall came down from Canada 
with the largei- portion of his people, and after a skirmish 



ThK BliGINNING OF A NlJW OrdHR 1 35 




RED TOMAHAWK 



136 Taming oi* 'i'ni<; Sioux 



with (IciH'ial Mih's on the I'ophir Kiver in Montana, sni- 
rendered aixl was hi-onnlil down (lie river to tiie Standing 
Rock icscivat ion, where lie remained in ]>ea('e with the 
governnient, did a little farming, grew very fat, ami tinallv 
died of a hemorrhage in 1S1)(>. 

In Jnlv of "SI, Sitting linll, (hM-iding that a reservation 
life, where his |)eo])le could draw rations, was intinitelv 
better than starving to death in Canada, came down and 
surrendered to the Tnited States troops at T'ort Bnford. 
He, with one hnndred and forty-six of his braves, were 
brought down the Missouri by steamboat to the Standing 
Rock agency, and I'^ori Vates. They were held there un- 
til Sei»tember the Sth, when they were ])laced aboard a 
boat and shipped to I'^nt Randall, where they were hebl 
as prisoners of war. hi 1SS;> th(\v were returned to the 
Standing Rock reservation, w here the old ( t ) chief made 
his home U]>on the (Jiaiid Kiver until his sudden death, 
which is described a few ])ages fui'ther on in this history. 

With all the warlike Sioux Indians corraled upon the 
reservaticms there ensued a time of profound ])eace. Inarm- 
ing o]>erations \ver(» inangiirated in deadly earnest, and 
schools started. At tirst it was a hard matter for the 
government ollicials and missionaries to convin<'e the 
Sioux that for the good of the race they shcndd send their 
<'hiblreii to school. All the cliiels were opposed to it, and 
much connciliiig was indulged in. Unt by ])ersistent per- 
suasion they were slowly brought aronnd to see the mat- 
ter in a wiser light, and gradually the sclnxd rooms began 
to buzz and hum with that p<'riiliar sound that denotes 
the ai)plication of juvenile minds to matters hai-d to un- 
derstand. 



Tiuc Religion of the; Sioux 137 



THE RELIGION OF TIIK SIOUX 

AVitli eacli siieceediiig' yeai- the Sioux braves took luoi-e 
and more to the whitemaii's maiiner of living, discarding 
their native style of dress, wherein the l)reech-clont fig- 
ured prominently, for the uninteresting garb of a white- 
man in distress. 

During this decade, from 1880 to 1890, the ])rogress of 
the larger portion of the Sioux toward civilization was 
perhaps more rapid than it has been at any time since. 
There is a psychological reason for this, no doubt, for all 
the innovations introduced )>y the whites were more forc- 
ibly impressed upon the Indian l)y the very fact of their 
being new to him. The work was also new to the govern- 
ment officials, and, consequently, they were much nu)re 
energetic and enthusiastic about it than they are now, 
after the uiost of them hav(» served thirty or iiun-c years. 
And the young missionaries, who entered the tield during 
the early eighties, were filled with a great and holy desire 
to win the heathen Indians to Christianity. The interest 
that had l>een aroused throughout the United States, and 
even in foreign countries, by the recent wars between the 
Sioux and the whites had led the good people of the mis- 
sionary societies to lend ever}' effort towai-d jyushing the 
work of teaching the Indian how to sing hymns and enter 
a fashioiial>l(' drawing i-oom, wliih' the whok' pro|»osition 
was largely an experiment and the world looked on ciui- 
ouslv to see how it would turn out. 



138 Taming 01^ thk Siuux 

r>nt as tli(^ years liavo jjasscd Ihcsc inissioiiaries have 
grown old, which is ([iiite natural, and in many eases their 
enthusiasm has given way to a complacent acquiescence to 
all things in general that passeth understanding. Where 
they used to harry, Avorry and hurry, they now merely 
marry, baptize and bury, while the Indian gets along with 
less religion than he did when he was in his so-called wild 
state, when he would go up on a high and silent butte and 
stand there for three days in worship of the Great Spirit. 
He always believed in a future life, that was far better 
than this one, and in a Sui)reme Being, but his ideas were 
not very clear on the sultject, and lie was satisfied not to 
delve into the matter very deeply. 

A few years ago Dr. Alfred L. Kiggs wrote a short 
article, whicli was printed in pamphlet form, entitled : 
Wlidl Docs flic Ind'uiu Worship? In liis explanatory 
note he says : "Tlie writer was born in 1837 among the 
then wild tribes of the Sioux of the Dakotas, has labored 
among them as missionary for forty-two years, and is well 
ac([uainted at tirst hand with their language, customs and 
religion. And as a student lie is conversant with what is 
known about the Indian tribes of the whole country." 

The Alpha and Omega ])arts of his article are as fol- 
lows : 

(Alpha.) ''The (Tiristian jteople who have been inter- 
ested ill the welfare of the Indian have labored for both his 
religious and physical well being. And to this end they 
have believed that the very best gift they could bring him 
was the gospel of Jesus Christ. But now come the eth- 
nologists and poets who assert that the native Indian is 



The Religion of the Sioux 139 

nearer to God and heaven than oni- Christianity can brin,i>' 
him, and that onr efforts to Christianize him are a gratu- 
itous impertinence. We can meet this charge and justify 
our missionary efforts only by a true presentation of the 
facts in the case, such as has not been made by our o]»- 
ponents. For this purpose we now answer the (]uestion : 
AVliat does the Indian worship? 

(Omega.) "1. The Indian is eminently religious; he 
has noble aspirations and a spiritual interpretation of the 
universe. 

"2. He has entirely departed from the worship of the 
One Great God and Father, and has taken up with tlie 
worship of gods that are no gods, to whom he vaiidy prays 
and sacrifices. 

"3. Holiness and righteousness are absent from the 
character of his gods, and their worship does not bring 
to him conviction of sin. 

"I. In his religion, ceremonial takes the place of 
righteousness and life and fellowship with God. 

"5. He knows not the love of God our Father, bringing 
joy and life to tlie soul, but, in bondage to fears created 
by his suj)erstition and ignorance, lives a life of apprehen- 
sion and terror. 

"6. They who represent him as a simple-hearted child 
of God, already more perfect than Christianity can make 
him, utter that which is untrue and highly mischievous. 

"7. If any creature on the face of God's earth is in 
desperate need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and knowl- 
edge of the Way of Life, it is our North American In- 
dian." 



140 Taming of the Sioux 



Tliiy loolvH pretty bad, tor tlie Indian, bnt it must be 
taken into consideration tliat ])er]iaps Doctor Riggs is 
unduly prejudiced in the matter. 

Wisliing to l)e inii)artial, I Avill give a few extracts 
from Dr. Charles I'^astman's (Ohivesa) The Soul of the 
Indiau. This writer is a fnllldood Indian, his father be- 
ing one of the ''400" Sionx who were given jail sentences 
for their particii)ation in the Minnesota outbreak of T)2. 
Until Charles was fifteen years old, he lived in tlie camp 
of his people as any genuine little untamed Sioux. Then 
he was put in tlie government school at Flandreau, and 
afterwards received a tliorough education at various in- 
stitutions of learning in the east. Tlierefore, he, too, 
should be well ((ualitied to spealv with authority upon the 
religi(m of the so-called savage Sioux. Let him speak: 

"The lirst missionaries, good men ind)ued witli the nai- 
rowness of tlieir age, branded us as pagans and devil - 
AVorshi])pers, and d(Mnande<l of us that we abjure our false 
gods before bowing (li<' knee at their sacred altar. They 
even told us tliat we wwi^ eternally lost, unless we ado])t- 
ed a tangible syml)ol and |»rofessed a ]»articular form of 
their hydra-headed faith. 

"We of the twentieth century know better I We know 
that all religious aspiration, all sincere worshi]), can have 
bu( one source and one goal. \Ve know that (he Cod of 
the lettered and unlettered, of the Greek and the barbar- 
ian, is after all the same ChxI; and, like Peter, we ])er- 
ceive that lie is no res])ecter of ])ers(nis, but that in every 
nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is 
acceptable to I lim. 



Thi; Re;i,igion oi^ the Sioux 141 

"The original attitude of the American Indian toward 
the Eternal, the 'Great Mystery' that surrounds and em- 
braces us, was as simple as it was exalted. To him it was 
the supreme conception, bringing with it the fullest meas- 
ure of joy and satisfaction possible in this life. 

"The worship of the 'Great Mystery' was silent, solitary, 
free from all self-seeking. It was silent, because all speech 
is of necessity feeble and imperfect; therefore the souls 

of my ancestors ascended to God in wordless adoration. 

* * * 

"That solitary communion A\ith tlie Unseeu which was 
the highest expression of our religious life is partly de- 
scribed in the word hainhcdai/, literally 'mysterious feel- 
ing,' which has been variously translated 'fasting' and 
'dreaming.' It may better be interpreted as 'conscious- 
ness of the divine." 

"The first hamheddij, or religious retreat, marked an 
epoch in the life of the youth, whicli may be compared to 
that of confirmation or conversion in Christian experience. 
Having first prepared himself by means of the purifying 
vapor bath, and cast off as far as possible all human or 
fieshly influences, the young man sought out the noblest 
height, the most commanding summit in all the surround- 
ing region. Knowing that God sets no value upon ma- 
terial things, he took with liim no offerings or sacrifices 
other than symbolic objects, such as paints and tobacco. 
Wishing to appear before Him in all humility, he wore 
no clothing save his moccasins and breech-clout. At the 
solemn hour of sunrise or sunset he took up his position, 
overlooking the glories of the earth and facing the 'Great 



142 Taming of 'iiiiv Sioux 

Mystery/ and there he i-einaiiied, naked, erect, silent, and 
motionless, exposed to the elements and forces of His 
arming, for a night and a day or two days and nights, but 
rarely longer. Sometimes lie Avonld chant a hymn with- 
out words, or offer the ceremonial 'tilled pipe.' In this 
holy trance or ecstasy the Indian mystic found his high- 
est happiness and the motive ]>ower of his existence. 

"When he returned to the camp, he must remain at a 
distance until he had again entered the vapor-bath and 
prepared himself for intercourse with his fellows. Of the 
vision or sign vouchsafed to him he did not speak, unless 
it had included some commission which must be publicly 
fulfilled. Sometimes an old man, standing upon the brink 
of eternity, might reveal to u chosen few the oracle of 
his long-past youth. 

"The native American has been generally despised by 
his white conquerors for his i)overty and simplicity. They 
forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade the accumula- 
tion of wealth and the enjoyment of luxury. To him, as 
to other single-minded men in every age and race, from 
Diogenes to the brothers of Saint I^'rancis, from the Mon- 
tanists to the Shakers, the love of ])ossessions has ap- 
])eared a snare, and the burdens of a complex society a 
source of needless peril and temptation. Furthermore, 
it was the rule of liis life to share the fruits of his skill 
and success with his less fortunate brothers. Thus he 
kept his spirit free from the clog of pride, cui)idity, or 
envy, and carried out, as he believed, the divine decree — 
a mattei- profoundly im])ortant to him. * * * 



Tiiic Rkligion of riiE Sioux 143 

"•The red man divided mind into two parts — the spir- 
itual miud and the physical mind. The tirst is pure spirit, 
concerned only with the essence of things, and it was this 
he souglit to strengthen by spiritual prayer, during wdiich 
the body is subdued by fasting and hardship. In this 
type of prayer there was no beseeching of favor or help. 
All matters of personal or selfish concern, as success in 
hunting or Avarfare, relief from sickness, or the sparing of 
a beloved life, were definitely relegated to the plane of 
the lower or material mind, and all ceremonies, charms, 
or incantations designed to secure a benefit or to avert 
a danger, were recognized as emanating from the ])hysical 
self. 

"The rites of this physical worship, again, were wholly 
symbolic, and the Indian no more w()rshii)ped the Sun 
than the Christian adores the Cross. The Sun and the 
Earth, by an ol)vious parable, holding scarcely more of 
poetic metaphor than of scientific truth, were in his view 
the parents of all organic life. From the Sun, as the uni- 
versal father, proceeds the quickening principle in nature, 
and in the patient and fruitful wond) of our mother, the 
Earth, are hidden embryos of plants and men. Therefore 
our reverence and love for them was really an imaginative 
extension of our love for our immediate parents, and a\ ith 
this sentiment of filial piety was joined a willingness to 
appeal to them, as to a father, for such gifts as we may 
desire. This is the material or physical prayer. 

"'The elements and majestic forces in nature. Lightning, 
Wind, Water, Fire and Frost, were regarded with awe 
as spiritual powers, but always secondary and iuterme- 



144 Taming of the; Sioux 

(liate in character. We believed that the spirit pervades 
all creation and that every creature possesses a soul in 
some degree, though not necessarily a soul conscious of 
itself. The tree, the waterfall, the grizzly bear, each is 
an embodied Force, and as such an object of reverence. 

"More than this, even in those white men who professed 
religion Ave found much inconsistency of conduct. They 
spoke much of spiritual things, while seeking only the 
material. They bought and sold everything : time, labor, 
personal independence, the love of woman, and even the 
ministrations of their holy faith ! The lust for money, 
power, and conipiest so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon 
race did not escape moral condemnation at the hands of 
his untutored judge, nor did he fail to contrast this con- 
spicuous trait of the dominant race with the spirit of the 
meek and lowly Jesus. 

^'He might in time come to recognize that the drunkards 
and licentious among whitemen, with whom he too fre- 
quently came in contact, were condemned by the white- 
men's religion as well, and must not be held to discredit 
it. But it was not so easy to overlook or to excuse nation- 
al bad faith. When distinguished emissaries from the 
Father at Washington, some of them ministers of the 
gospel and even bishops, came to the Indian nations, and 
pledged to them in solemn treaty the national honor, with 
prayer aiul mention of their God; and when such treaties, 
so made, were promptly and shamelessly broken, is it 
strange that the action should arouse not only anger, but 
contempt? The iiistojians of tlic ^^ liite race admit that 
the Indian was nev(M' the lirs( lo r('i)udi;de his oath. 



TiiK Rkligi(»n oi" TiiK Siuux 145 

''It is my ])ers<)iial belief, after tliivty-tive years" ex- 
perience of it, that tliere is 110 such tliiiiii as 'Christian 
civilization.' I believe that Christianity and modern civ- 
ilization are opposed and irreconcilable, and that the spir- 
it of Christianity and of our ancient relii>ion is essentially 
the same." 

Now, what have tln^ missionaries to offer in rejdy to the 
last paragraph? Is it jtossible that they only ima<;iiu' that 
they are religious? In all religions there are hypocrites, 
and very rare is the real, sincere Christian man. and he 
may not jirofess any certain creed, for it is not necessary 
to belong to a church in order to live right an<l love Cod. 
Religion, how many a heart has been broken in thy naiue, 
lives taken, and long wars fought, while today, the so- 
called Christian nations are at each others throats in a 
<leath struggle which bids fair to shatter our old globe 
and bring to ])ass the prophesies of Daniel, while they 
seem to hav(^ fen-gotten that there is a Christian religion 
and a Cod. or anything else but the killing of liuiuan 
beings. 

But, S])eaking of the religion of the Indiau. it appears 
that he — the old time Indian — had a very go kI foiiu of 
religion, in that it served his daily needs adinirably. It 
was a kind of worship purely evoluntionary. coming out 
of the dim past and s(M-ving all purposes, as nature, her- 
self, always does in all her manifold forms of liCc And 
the Indian did not care to improve upon it, for his uatuial 
instincts taught hiiu that it was (piite sutticient. 

But with the coming of the whiteuian. condili(»us in 
the life of the Indian were vastly changed. au<l it is safe 



146 



Taming of 'iiiK Sioux 



to say that he could ii(» loiiiivr retain his religion in its 
simple foiins as it would he j^reatly infinenced and per- 
verted Ity liis association with tlie white peo])le. So, it 
follows, lo«>ically, does it not, that for the best interests 
of the greatest number, the whiteman's religion should 
be ado])ted l»y the Indian, and his own })ut in the discard, 
for the young people of his tribe will no longer sincerely 
follow the old form of worship which was good enough 
for their fathei-s, but which with them belongs to an age 
now almost dead and gone. And, surely, the whiteman's 
"hvdi-a-li(^aded religion" is better than no religion at all. 




Th^ Messiah Craze 147 



THE MESSIAH CRAZE 

111 the following acrouiit of this affair I have relied a 
good deal for the facts in the matter upon Doaiie Robin- 
son's History of the ^ionx Indians, and Major James Mc- 
Laughlin's My Friend the Indian. 

Far to the west ^'beyond the land of the Yellow Faces to 
the west of the Utes," Avhicli is to say, in the land of the 
Paiute Indians of Nevada, a young Indian by the name 
of Jack Wilson had a vision, while under the influence of 
a fever, during the time the sun was in an eclipse on Jan- 
uary 1, 1889. 

It was a harmless kind of a vision in which he was 
taken up to heaven where he saw God and all the i)eople 
who had died. They were happy, and it was a beautiful 
land where the grass grew high and wild game was plen- 
tiful. God gave him his instructions, and told him to tell 
the Indians that if they were faithful to his teachings 
they would all die some day and be reunited with their 
dear departed friends. Jack was given command over the 
elements so that he could make it rain or snow, or shine 
or blow, as he pleased. He was appointed God's deputy 
to take charge of things in the west, leaving Benjamin 
Harrison, who was President at the time, to manage mat- 
ters in the east, while God, Himself, would look after 
things in the world above. 



148 Taming of thi^ Sioux 

"The (leclai-ation of his revelation set the Paiutes and 
all of tlie adjoining tribes into a j^i-eat religions fervor, 
and in a very short period of time knowledge of his \)vo- 
fessions had been carried to all the Indians in all of the 
tribes in the continent, ft is niarvelons how rapidly this 
sort of news traveled among them, and the reader may be 
snre that the tale lost nothing in its pilgrimage. The 
first knowledge of the Messiah craze reached the Sionx 
in the snmmer of 1881), by letters received at Pine Ridge 
from tribes in Utali, AVyoming, Montana, Dakota and 
Oklahoma. As these letters were sent to many ir>ionx who 
did not read, they were taken to AVilliam Selwyn to be in- 
terpreted to them, and therefore, knowledge of the move- 
ment soon came to the agency oflicials. In the fall of 1889 
the matter had so mnch interested the Pine Ridge Dako- 
tas that a great conncil was held to discnss the snbject, 
attended by Red Cloud, Man Afraid, Little Wound, Ameri- 
can Horse, and very many other of the older Indians, who 
still took ])ride in adhering to the anti(inated tribal cus- 
toms. At this council it was determined to send a dele- 
gation to Pyramid Lake (wherever that is, I'\ F.) to learn 
more of the new Messiah, and Good Thunder, Flat Iron. 
Yellow Rreast and P>roken Arm from Pine Ridge; Short 
Hull and one other ( jtrobably Clown Relly, V. V.) from 
Rosebud, and Kicking Pear fi-om Cheyenne River agency, 
were elected as such delegates. They at once started on 
their journey to tlx' west and soon began t<> write from 
Wyoming, Ctah and beyond the mountains, contirniing 
all that had been said of I he a<lvent of a redeemer. They 
were gone all wintcM-and their i-et urn in the s]>ring aroused 



The Messiah Craze 149 

intense excitement anioni; tlie J^ionx, ^^ ho liad been anx- 
iously awaiting- their report. All the delegates believed 
that there was a man near the base of the Sierras who said 
that he was the Son of God, who liad once been kille<l 
by the whites, and who bore on his body the scars of the 
crucifixion. He was now returning to punish the whites 
for their wickedness, especially for their injustice toward 
the Indians. AVitli the coming of the spring of 1801 he 
would wipe the whites from the face of tlie earth and 
would then resurrect all the dead Indians, bring back the 
buffalo and other game, and restore the supremacy of the 
aboriginal race. He had come to the wlntes, but they 
rejected him. He was now the God of the Indians, and 
they must pray to him and call him Father and pre])are 
for his awful coming. 

"This report Ay as an unjustifiable exaggeration of what 
Jack Wilson actually taught. He took pains to write 
down his message, and there was absolutely nothing in 
it to justify the Sioux yersion. Here is his message yer- 
batim: '^'When you get home (meaning those who came 
to him seeking information) you must make a dance to 
continue fiye days. Dance four successive nights, and the 
last night keej) uj) the dance until the morning of the 
fifth day, when all must bathe in the river and then dis- 
perse to their homes. You must all do the same way. 
(Pretty good advice at that, especially Hie bathing part, 
F. F.) 

" 'I, Jack AVilson, love you all and my heart is full of 
gladness for the gifts which you have brought me. When 
you get home I shall give von a good cloud which Nvill 



150 Taming or this Sioux 

make you feel good. I give you a good spirit and give you 
all good paint. I want you to come again in three months, 
some from each tribe. 

" 'Tliere will be a good deal of snow this year and some 
rain, in the fall there will be such a rain as I have never 
given you before. 

" 'Grandfather (meaning the Messiah) says when your 
friends die you must not cry. You must not hurt any- 
body or do harm to anyone. You must not fight. Do 
right always. It will give you satisfaction in life. 

" 'Do not tell the white people about this. Jesus is 
now upon earth. He appears like a cloud. The dead are 
all alive upon earth. I do not know when they will be 
here, maybe this fall or in the spring. When the time 
comes there will be no more sickness, and everyone will 
be young again. 

" 'Do not refuse to work for the whites and do not make 
any trouble with them until you leave them. When the 
earth shakes, at the coming of the new world, do not be 
afraid, it will not hurt you. 

" 'I want you to dance every six weeks. Make a feast 
at the dance and have food that everyone may eat. Then 
bathe in the water. This is all. You will receive good 
words from me sometime. Do not tell lies.' 

"It was in April, 1890, that the delegation returned 
to Pine Kidge with their reports. A council was at once 
called to discuss the matter, but Selwyn, who was liim- 
self an educated fullblood Sioux and postmaster at Pine 
Ridge, reported the matter to the agent, Major Gallagher, 
and Good Tlnindor and two otiiers were arrested and im- 



The; Messiah Craze; 



151 




JOHN GRASS— SIOUX CHIEF 



IS-2 'I\\.M1.\C. Ol' 11 II': SlOl'X 



prisoned for two days. The conncil was not li(4<l, Imt 
Kickinji IJear, who had Ixnni off to the Ara]>ahoes, en route 
to liis lioiue at (Mieyenne Kiver, stopped at l*ine Kidge 
and told tlieni lliat tlie Ara]>ahoes were already danciu"' 
and could see and talk with tlieir dead relatives while 
in tlie dance. The excitement, wliich the agent had 
thonght was smothered by the arrest of the leaders, broke 
out again with added strength, lied (Toud himself, the 
great cliief of the Oglalas, decdared his adhesion to the 
ne>\' docnin(^ and said his |»eo])le must <lo as the Messiah 
commanded." 

Tlie foregoing, witliin (|Uotation marks, is taken from 
RolunscnTs history, and the same ]»arts were found in 
James AFooney's, The MCssiah Ixclif/ion and tlic (lliost 
Dunce. 

It was not long before the excitement had sjiread to all 
the Sioux reservations, and in McLauglilin's book we 
find that Kicking I>ear, kicked along uj) to Sitting Bull 
with a great tale, ])art of which follows: 

"In my tejtee on the Cheyenne reservation, I arose after 
the corn-planting, sixteen moons ago, and prepared for 
my journey. I had seen many things and had been told 
by a voice to go forth and meet the gliosis, for they were 
to retniii and inhabit the earth. 1 trav(ded far on the 
cars of the whitemen, until I came to the ])lace wIkm'c the 
railroad stojiped. There I met two men, Indians, wliom 
I had never seen before, but who treated me as a brother 
and gave me meat and bread. They had tliree horses, and 
we rode without talking for four days, for I knew they 
were to be witnesses of what I should see. (Anvone who 



The Me;ssiaii Craze 133 

kiioAvs the Indians mnst ai)])ie('iate wliat a lie that was. 
Three Indians never eonld ride tliat Ion"' without talk- 
ing, F. F. ) Two snns had we traveled, and had passed 
the last signs of the whiteman — for no whiteman had ever 
had the conrage to travel so far ( This was before the days 
of Cook and Peary, F. F.) — when we saw a strange and 
fierce-looking black man, dressed in skins. He was living 
alone, and had medicine with which he conld do what he 
wished. He wonld wave his hands and make great heaps 
of money; another motion, and Ave saw many si)ring wag- 
ons, already painted and ready to hitch horses to; yet an- 
other motion of the hands, and there s]n'nng n]t before 
ns great herds of bnffalo. The black man spoke and told 
ns that he was the friend of the Indian ; that Ave should 
remain Avith him and go no farther, and Ave might take 
Avhat AV(^ Avanted of the money, the si)ring Avagons and the 
bnffalo. But onr hearts Avere turned aAvay from the Idack 
man, my brothers, and Ave left him and traveled for two 
days more." 

Kicking Bear did not say so, but they may have taken 
the black man to be an agent of the government Avho 
Avauted to make a neAV treaty Avith them, and therefore, 
they Avonld haA^e none of him. HoAveA'er, to make a long 
story short, they met another man, "dresse<l like an In- 
dian, l)ut Avhose hair Avas long and glistening like the 
yellow money of the Avhiteman." '' * * he said, 'Hoav, 
my children ! You have done Avell to make this long jour- 
ney to come to me. LeaA'e your horses and folloAA' me.' " 
They were taken up a great ladder of small clouds through 
an opening in the sky. They saAv the Great Spirit and his 



154 Taming of tiiK Sioux 

wife, and they were dressed as Indians, though it might 
have been a masquerade. Then from an opening in the 
sky they were shown all the countries of the earth and the 
camping-grounds of their fathers since the beginning of 
time; all were there, the tepees, the great herds of buf- 
falo and the country smiled because it was rich and no 
white man was there. The Great Si)irit taught them to 
say certain prayers and perform dances and gave them a 
message to take to their people, part of which follows: 

" '* * * I will cover the earth with new soil to a 
depth of live times the height of a man, an<l under this 
new soil will be buried the whites, and all the holes and 
rotten places will be filled up. The new lands will be 
covered with sweet grass and running water and trees, 
and herds of buffalo and ponies will stray over it, that my 
red children may eat and drink, hunt and rejoice. * * 
* And while I am making the new earth the Indians 
who have heard this message and who dance and pray 
and believe will be taken up in the air and suspended 
there, while the wave of new earth is passing; then set 
down among the ghosts of their ancestors, relatives and 
friends. * * * Qq then, my children, and tell these 
things to all the people and make ready for the coming 
of the ghosts.' " 

Kicking Bear went on to say that, "We were given 
food that was rich and sweet to taste, and as we sat there 
eating, there came up through the clouds a man, tall as 
a tree and thin as a snake, with great teeth sticking out 
of his mouth, his body covered with short hair, and we 
knew at once it was the Evil Spirit. And he said to the 



The; Messiah Craze 155 



Great Spirit, 'I waut half of the ])eople of the earth,' and 
the Great Spirit aiis\ysered aud said, 'No, I cannot give 
yoii any: I love them too much,' The Evil Spirit asked 
again and was again refused, and asked the third time, 
and the Great Spirit told him that he could have the 
whites to do what he liked with, but that he would not 
let him have any of the Indians, as they were his chosen 
people for all future time.' " 

Then the visitors were led l)ack down the ladder by 
he who had shown them up. * * * « ^^Ye found our 
horses and rode back to the railroad, the Messiah Hying 
along in the air ahead of us. At the railroad he left us 
and told us to return to our people, and tell them, and 
all the people of the red nations, what we had seen ; and 
he promised us that he would return to the clouds no 
more, but would remain at the end of the earth, and lead 
the ghosts of our fathers to meet us when the next win- 
ter had passed.' " 

Unfortunately, at this time, the Dakota Sioux were 
again receiving what they considered to be unfair treat- 
ment from our government. In 1889 a treaty was made 
in which the great, original Sioux reservation was broken 
up. All the land lying between the Cheyenne River and 
the White River in South Dakota being thrown open to 
white settlement, for which the Indians were to receive 
11.25 an acre. Many of the old Indians and chiefs were 
bitterly opposed to the treaty, and at Standing Rock, Sit- 
ting Bull, with a force of his men in full regalia, tried 
to break up the council, but Major McLaughlin had been 
warned and was prepared for just such an emergency. 



15*> Taming of thK Sioux 

and the atteiiijtt failcMl. Cliict's -loliu Grass, Gall and 
Mad Bear were aiitajj;()iiisti(' to the terms of the treaty, 
bnt were tiiially won over tlnonjih the good work of Major 
McLaughlin. The speech in which .John Grass succeeded 
in gracefully receding from his former position in the 
matter was an oratorical effort worthy of the highest civ- 
ilized statesman in the land. 

Early in 1S90 the government came to the conclusion 
that the amount of rations being issued to the Sioux 
should be gradually reduced, in order to bring about a 
more industrious disposition among them, and, on top of 
that, there had been a drought during the past two years, 
and they had raised very little farm produce. Some were 
actually in a starving condition, and thus were more sus- 
ceptible to the influence of sm-h a craze as was being 
instigated by the delegates who had returned from the 
alleged tri]) to the home of tlie Messiah. 

Ghost dances were started at l*ine Kidge, Kosebud, 
Cheyenne reservation at Gherry Greek, and on the Stand- 
ing Rock, by Sitting Bull in his camp on the (Jrand River, 
and Doane Robinson says: ^'The religious fervor into 
which these peo])le were at once tlirowu was un])aralleled 
and beyond all rational explanation. They dreamed 
dreams and saw visions. The visible presence of their 
long departed relatives and friends was something real 
aH<l tangible to them. Tliey were simply laboring under 
some strange ]»sychologic influence not susce])tible of ex- 
[ilauation.'' 

Had the Indians simply tollowcil tlx' teachings of Jack 
Wilson. an<l not hied to improve n|ion them or to hurry 



The Messiah Crazi-: 



np the comiiijn of the Messiah, no harm woiihl liave coiue 
of it. Ill fact, tliev mij^ht have been <>i-eatl,v Iteiietited, for 
the things they were iiistviicted to (h) would liave been 
good for them. And who knows l»ut what -lack ^^'ilson 
was a trne propliet after all? 11(^ did not set any speci- 
fied time for the great cliange at the coining of the new 
w^orhl, stating siini)ly that perha]»s it wonld be that fall 
or the next spring. And now, after twenty-tiv(^ y<*ars have 
passed, it is beginning to look as thongh the Messiah 
should hdvc to come in order to sti-aighten cmt the wicked 
worhl, or else destroy it altogether and make a new one 
for the Indians who, at least, had some respect for Him. 
The following description of the sweat lodge and the 
ghost dance is cpiite accurate and was originally written 
by James Mooney. Before taking tlie bath, the men fast- 
ed tweuty-fonr hours, and at daylight entered the sweat 
houses: ^'The sweat hctuse is a small circular frame 
work of willow branches driven into the ground and 
bent over and brought together at the toj) in such a way 
that when coverf^l with blankets or buffalo robes, the 
structure forms a diminutive round tepee just large 
emmgh to enable several persons to sit or stand in a stoop- 
ing posture inside. The doorway faces the east, and at 
the distance of a few feet in front of the door way is a 
small mound of earth on which is ]»laced a buffalo skidl 
with the head turned as if looking into the lodge. Tlie 
earth of which the mound is formed is taken from the 
center of the lodge. Near the lodge on the outside is a 
tall sacrifice i)ole, from the top of which are strung strips 
of bright colored cloth, packages of tobacco, or other of- 



158 Taming of the; Sioux 

ferings to the diety invoked by the devotee. ( The Great 
Spirit, F. F.) Fresh bundles of the fragrant wihl sage 
are strewn on the ground inside the sweat house, and a 
fire is kindled outside a short distance away. In this 
fire stones are heated by the medicine men and when all 
are ready, the devotee, stripped to the breech-clout, enters 
the sweat house. The stones are then handed in to him 
by the priests by means of two forked sticks and are de- 
posited by him in the hole in the earth in the center of 
the lodge. Water is then passed in and he pours it over 
the hot stones until the interior is filled with steam, and 
he sits in this aboriginal Turkish bath until his body is 
dripping with perspiration. During this time the doctors 
outside are doing their i)art in the way of praying to 
the gods and keeping u]) the supply of hot stones and 
water until, in their estimation, he has been sufficiently 
purified physically or morally, when he emerges, plunges 
into the neigld)oving stream and resumes his clothing. 
After this the dancer was ]>;nnted by the medicine man, 
the design and color being (Ictermincd by a ])rcvions 
trance vision. This ])ro('ess occujticd most of the morn- 
ing, so that it was about noon before the circle for the 
dance was formed. A small tree was ])lanted in the cen- 
ter of the circle with the American Hag floating from the 
top. Around the base of the tree sat the priests. A young 
woman standing within tlie circle gave the signal for 
the i)erformance l)y shooting into the air toward the car- 
dinal points, four sacred arrows, made after the old })rimi- 
tive fashion with stone heads and dipped in the blood of 
a steer l>efore l)ein2: brought to the dance. These were 



The; Messiah Crazk 159 

then gathered up and tied to a branch of tlie tree, to- 
gether with the bow. During the dance tliis yonng wom- 
an stood witliin the circle, holding a red stone pipe toward 
the west, the direction from which the Messiah was to 
appear. The performers, men and Avomen, sat on the 
ground in a large circle around the tree. A phiintive 
chant was then sung, after which a vessel of some sacred 
food was passed around the circle until everyone had 
partaken, when at a signal of the ju-iests tlie dancers rose 
to their feet, joined hands and began to chant the oi)en- 
ing song and began to move slowly around the circle from 
right to left. Tlie dance was thus kept up until the per- 
formci-s were utterly exhausted and fell in a trance." 

Major James McLaughlin, agent on the Standing Rock 
reservation at the time, visited Sitting Bull's camp on 
the Grand Kiver, on November 17th, IS'.K). The great 
medicine chief was conducting his ghost dance with a vim 
even (piitc^ foreign to him, and Major jMcLaughlin de- 
scribes the ]»roceedings as follows: * * * "\y x look- 
ed on, a middle-aged woman fell out of the circle and 
rolled to some distance. She was picked \^^ by the should- 
ers by two Indians, whose trappings indicated that they 
were officers of the dance, and who dragged her to a tepee 
which I had not noticed before, but which commanded 
my attention now, for within the wide-open flaps of the 
wigwam, seated on a sort of throne, was my old friend. 
Sitting Bull, lie was A'ery much thinner than a few 
weeks jn-evious, but the look he gave me showed that his 
wits were not dulled or his hatred and envy lessened by 
the rigor of his life. By his side, fantastically dressed. 



i6o Taming of tiii<; Sioux 

wtood Mull Gliost, fitting Bull's iiiouthpi(M-e in the ghost- 
dancing exercises, llnll Ghost had l)een rather popular 
with the whites around tlie agency, and Avas familiarly 
known as 'One-Eyed-Kiley,' lie liaving but one eye and 
that not an attractive orb. 

''Tlie woman, still in a swoon, was laid a( Sitting HidTs 
feet, and Bull Ghost announced in a loud voice that she 
was in a trance and communicating with the glntsts, upon 
which announcement the dance ceased, so that the dancers 
might hear the message from the spirit world. Sitting 
Bull ]>erformed certain incantations, then leaned over and 
})ut his ear to the woman's lips. He spoke in a low voice 
to his herald. Bull (Jliost, who repeated to the listening 
multitude tlie message which Sitting I>ull pretended to 
receive from the unconscious woman. Knowing his peo- 
ple intimately, Ik^ knew all about the (h'ad rcdatives of 
the woman who had fainted, and he made a tremendous 
impressicm on liis audience by giving them personal mes- 
sages from tlie Imliaii ghosts, who annouiiced with gi-eat 
uiianimity that they wcM-e mai-chiiig east to join tlieii' liv- 
ing kiiisiiien the folloN\ing sjn-ing." 

The excitemeiit was vei-y inteiise, so .Majoi- .McLaugh- 
liii left the camp and s])ent the liight at the house of 
l>ull Head, his lient(Miant of Indiaii Police. The follow- 
ing moi-iiing Ik' i-etuiiied and had a long talk with Sit- 
tiiig r>nll, and ti-icd to pei-snade hiiii to go in to the 
ageiicy. l>ut the old fellow said he would have to con- 
sult his people in the mattei-, aiid Majoi- McLaughlin left 
with his interjiietei'. Loins riimean. As the cam|i. with 
its threatening hostiles, passed fi-om view ovei- the hill. 



The Messiah Craze 



i6i 




A SKUX WOMAN 



i62 Taming oi-' thk Sioux 

they felt somewhat relieved, for during' the interview, 
Sitting Bull had more than once checked his people from 
insulting and doing bodily injury to the visitors. 

The news of the threatened uprising was of course her- 
alded through the (country, and great was the interest 
in the Sioux Indians at that time, while the white set- 
tlers in the territory adjacent to the reservations were 
either leaving to visit their relatives in the east, or pre- 
paring to fortify themselves in their homes against a sud- 
den attack. The extent of the movement among the In- 
dians was greatly exaggerated, for out of 25,000 souls, 
hardly 700 warriors were concerned, and the Christian 
Indians took no part in it, whatsoever. 

On November IStli the war department received in- 
structions from President Harrison to assume responsi- 
bility to prevent an outbreak, and General Nelson A. 
Miles, then in command of the Dei^artment of the Mis- 
souri, took charge of affairs and established his head- 
quarters at Rapid City, S. D. In a few days there was 
assembled at Pine Ridge, eight troops of the 7th Cavaliy 
under Colonel Forsyth; eight companies of the 2nd, and 
a company of the 8th Infantry, under Colonel Wheaton, 
and a battalion of the 5th Infantry under Captain Capron 
— all under the immediate command of General John R. 
Brooke. At Rosebud were two troops of the 0th Cavalry, 
with portions of the 8th and 21st Infantry under Lieut.- 
Colonel Poland, while between Pine Ridge and Rosebud 
were stationed seven companies of the 1st Infantry un- 
der Colonel Shafter. To the northwest of I*ine Ridge 
were stationed portions of the Isi, 2iid and 0th Cavalry 



The: Messiah Craze 16.5 



under Colonel Tilford and Lieut.-Colonel Sanford. And 
yet farther, at Buffalo Gap, over toward the "Hills," on 
the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, were stationed 
three troops of the 5th and 8th Cavalry under a Captain 
Wells. At Rapid City was Colonel Carr with six troops 
of the 6th Cavalry. Along the south fork of the Cheyenne 
River, Lieut.-Colonel Off ley camped with seven compa- 
nies of the 17th Infantry, while east of him there were 
three troops of the 8th Cavalry, two companies of the 3rd 
Infantry, and Lieut. Robinson's Crow scouts, all under 
Lieut.-Colonel Summer. And there were a few soldiers 
still left in Fort Meade, in the "Hills," and Forts Ben- 
nett and Sully over on the Missouri River, while up at 
Fort Yates were stationed two troops of the 8th Cavalry, 
two companies of the 12th Infantry and one of the 22nd 
Infantry, under command of Colonel Drum. 

And the ghost-dancing Indians of the Rosebud and Pine 
Ridge reservations, under Short Bull and Kicking Bear 
fled to the Bad Lands, northwest of the White River, 
about fifty miles from the Pine Ridge agency, and it is 
no wonder they left for the Bad Lands. With all those 
bad soldiers in the country they could not perform their 
religious services with any degree of satisfaction. In 
making the trip they destroyed the homes of many of 
the anti-craze Indians along the way, and also captured 
a portion of the agency beef herd. In a few days there 
were over 3,000 Indians gathered in this element-scarred 
region, where they awaited future developments and par- 
aded around the camp in full regalia and told each other 
how brave they were. 



The Death of Sitting Bull 165 



THE DEATH OF SITTING BULL 

Sitting Bull was still dancing in his camp on the Grand 
River, and though the number of Indians who had joined 
him probably did not exceed 300, he, nevertheless, con- 
sidered himself to be the high chief of all, and began 
to make preparations toward joining the fugitives in the 
Bad Lands. 

At a distance of about one mile and a half from Bull's 
camp was a little government day school. The teacher 
of that school was John M. Carignan, now Indian trader 
at Standing Rock, and who at present is serving his first 
term in the North Dakota legislature, as the first rep- 
resentative of the newly organized county of Sioux, which 
takes in all of the reservation lying north of the South 
Dakota line. As Mr. Carignan was a personal friend of 
Sitting Bull, he was not molested, though nearly all of 
his pupils quit school for the purpose of attending 
"church,"' as tliey termed the exercises of the ghost danc- 
ers. 

On the ll^th of December, 1890, the war (lei>artmeut is- 
sued an order for the arrest of Sitting Bull. Major Mc- 
Laughlin and Colonel Drum decided to go after him on 
the 20th, at which time the Indians would be at the 
agency drawing rations. But on the night of the 14th 
a message was received from "Jack" Carignan, which 
conveyed the startling news that old Bull and liis fol- 



i66 Taming of the; Sioux 

lowers were goiiij; to dec-amp for the Bad Lands the very 
next morning. 

This called for immediate action, so on the same night 
orders were sent to the Indian Police to visit the ^'hos- 
tile" camp and arrest Sitting Bnll, and they wonld be 
supported by the cavalry from Fort Yates. 

At midnight the troops left for the camp, a distance 
of forty-live miles, and tlii'ongh the darkness of the night 
they moved south over the trail that Sitting Bull had 
often used in his journeys to the agenc}'. 

The morning of tlie 15th of December, 1890, broke 
with the sky overcast and a light snow falling, a tine 
snow that scarcely covered the ground, and while it was 
falling, thirty-nine regular Indian policemen, and four 
specials, under command of Bull Head and Shave Head, 
rode into Sitting Bull's camp. 

In his description of what followed McLaughlin says : 

"* * * Sitting Bull's band lived in (log) houses 
stretching along the Grand River for a distance of four 
or five miles. About the home of the chief, consisting 
of two houses and a corral, there were a half a dozen log 
cabins of good size. * * * The entrance of the police- 
men awakened the camp but they saw no one, as Bull 
Head wheeled his men between the Sitting Bull houses 
and ordered them to dismount. Ten policemen, headed 
by Bull Head and Shave Head, entered one of tlie houses, 
eight policemen the other. In the house entered by Bull 
Head's i)arty they found the old medicine man, his two 
wives, and Crow Foot, his son, a youth of seventeen years. 

''The women were very much frightened and beuan to 



The; Death of Sittinc-, Bull 167 



cry. Sitting Bull sat up and asked what was the matter. 

" 'You are under arrest and must go to the agenc-}/ 
said Bull Head. 

" 'Very well,' said Sitting liull, M will go w irli you.' 
And the told one of his wives to go to the next house and 
bring him his best clothes. He showed no concern at 
his arrest, but evidently wanted to make a good impres- 
sion and dressed himself with care. He had also asked 
that his best horse, a gray one, be saddled, and an In- 
dian policeman luul the animal at the door by the time^ 
Sitting Bull was dressed and ready to leave." 

AVhen all had been made ready, Bull Head graciously 
took the right arm of the chief, and Shave Head took the 
other, while Red Tomahawk walke<l directly behiinl. ;nid 
thus they emerged fr(mi the door of the cabin, and felt 
the cold air of the dawn ui)on their tough faces. 

As has been said the camp had been aroused, au<l when 
the })olicemen a])])eare(l with the chief, they found at least 
two hundred badly worked u]> ghost-dancers, well armed 
and crowding and jostling each other around the en- 
trance to the cabin, and shooting daggers <nU of their 
eyes at the Indian policemen. Crow Foot came out and 
upon seeing that his father really intended to give him- 
self u]), shouted : 

"You call ycnnself a brave man, and you have declared 
that you would never surrender to a blue coat, and now 
you give yourself up to Indians in blue uniforms !" 

That hit the old fellow pretty hard, and u])ou lot)king 
around and seeing the earnest faces of his ])eo])le, who 



i68 'riiiC Taminc, oi- THiv Sioux 

would "ladly have died for him, lie snddeidv screeched 
out an order to attack the ])olice. 

Kull Head and Shave Head both fell riddled with bul- 
lets, but as he fell, the former shot Sitting Bull through 
the side, and Ked Tomaliawk, from behind, shot the chief 
in the right side of the head, killing him instantly. 

lu the tight which followed, six of the police were killed, 
including Shave Head, and Bull Head who died a few 
days after. Others of the police were wounded, while 
eight of the hostiles, besides Sitting Bull, were killed, and 
five wounded. The police ran out of ammunition and 
took refngc in the cabin and stable near by, while the 
hostiles from the tind)er beside the i-iver, poured a con- 
tinuons tiie into the buildings. 

At this moment the troo])s of the Sth Cavalry, under 
('(mimainl of ('a])tain E. (I. Fetchet, came in sight on 
the liills to the nortli overlooking the valley. They had 
with them a Hotchkiss gnn, ^hicli they tired twice in 
the direction of the cam]), and it has Ix'en said by men 
of the command (hat the gnn was aimed at a poor old 
v(h\ bull that was grazing to the left of the cam]), bliss- 
fnlly oI)livions to the danger lie was in. and that Iw dro]v 
j)ed in niucli I lie same manner as a dry beef hide wonld 
if let go from a |)er])endicular ])osi(ion in a sti-ong wind. 
This little incident has been conlradicled by other mem- 
bers of the troo])s, and Ihei-e is a divergence of o])inion, 
bnt if 'twas true it follows that in an incredibly short 
time after the shots were tiivd the ball lay a])on the 
groinid. fpiite dead, and tints a new fact is ad<l('d to his- 



The: Dkath of Sitting Bull 169 

tory — the great mediciue chief. Sitting Bull, was not the 
only bull who died that day. 

The police rushed from the cabin and displayed a white 
flag", or rag, and the soldiers fired no more, but came 
down and entered the camp, from which all the hostiles 
had fled upon the first appearance of the troops. 

After assuring the remaining Indian women that no 
harm would come to them or their children, provided tliat 
they offered no resistance to the troops, Captain Fechet 
gathered up the dead and accompanied by the police, 
returned to Fort Yates. The dead body of Sitting Bull 
was brought in also, and was buried in the northwest cor- 
ner of the military cemetery at the i)ost, where the grave 
may be seen until this day. There were not more than 
six men present, and the body was placed in a rough pine 
box and lowered in the grave as the darkness of the com- 
ing winter's night was gathering about the lonesome spot 
so far from civilization. In the afternoon of the follow- 
ing day the Indian police, who so gallantly gave u]i their 
lives for the preservation of peace between tlieir bretli- 
ren and the whites, were buried with full military honors 
in the Catliolic cemetery at Standing Rock Agency, the 
distance between the two cemeteries being about lialf 
a mile. 

Enough ])raise cannot be accorded these brave police- 
men who were so steadfast and true to their old liered- 
itary foes, the whites. Their conduct on this occasion 
has probably never been surpassed hy any class of ukmi 
in the history of the worhl. 



The Battle; of Wounded Knke 171 



THE BATTLE OF WOUNDED KNEE 

By every means the Iii<Iiaiis who liad tied to the Bad 
Lands were nrged to return to their reservations and to 
give up their foolishness. They were surrounded on three 
sides by the military under couimaud of General Brooke. 
They were then promised that their rights and interests 
would be respected, and with these assurances of good 
faith on the i)art of the government, coupled with the 
pertinent presence of the soldiers who were thrown about 
them in such a manner that they could not move in any 
direction but toward the agency A\itliout precipitating 
a fight, they decided to follow the advice of the wise lead- 
ers of the whites. Breaking camp the}^ moved down 
toward the agency, which was on the Pine Ridge Reserva- 
tion in South Dakota, and the troops followed close be- 
hind, and in a short time there were no Indians remain- 
ing in the Bad Lands. 

But coming from the Cheyenne River Reservation, 
which is over on the west side of the Missouri River in the 
northern ])art of South Dakota, Avere about 340 Sioux 
Indians under Chief Big Foot, and they were making 
big tracks in the newf alien snow for the Bad Lands. Of 
their number, 10(> were Avarriors, and they had been joined 
by thirty-eight of tlie refugees from Sitting Bull's band; 
the others having returned to the Standing Rock reserva- 
tion upon the urgent request of Major McLaughlin. 



172 Thk Taming 01^ the; Sioux 

Big Foot eluded tlie military forces on the Cheyenne, 
and without molesting anyone on the way, had reached 
the Bad Lands. Finding none of the other Indians here, 
he was proceeding on toward the agency- wiien he was 
intercepted by Major AMiiteside with four troops of the 
Seventh Cavalry. Big Foot surrendered, and together, 
the Indians and the troops, moved on to Wounded Knee 
Creek, about twenty miles northeast of Pine Ridge 
Agency, where they camped. Major AVhiteside was joined 
here by Colonel Forsyth with four more troops of the 
Seventh, one company of s<'outs, and four Hotchkiss guns 
— a total force of 470 men. 

The next morning, which was December 29, 1890, pre- 
parations were made to <liwarm the Indians of Big Foot's 
band, after which they were to be taken to the agency or 
shipped out of the country as the exigencies of the case 
demanded. The Indians had pitched their tepees on an 
open plain a short distance from the creek, and were 
surrounded by the soldiers. Behind them was a small, 
dr}^ ravine, running into the creek, and in front, on a 
slight elevation, the battery of machine guns were x^laced 
with their muzzles trained directly on the Indian camp. 
Two troops of cavalry were dismounted and drawn up 
before the tepees only a few yards away, and the order 
was given for the Indians to deliver their arms. Tlie 
warriors came forth and seated themselves in a row on 
the ground in front of the soldiers. They were then or- 
dered to go by themselves to tlieir tei)ees and bring out 
their fire arms. About twenty complied, but when they 
returned they only had two guns, an<l it was apparent 



The; Battle; of Wounde;d Knee 173 

that they were not willing to give up their arms. A de- 
tachment of troops was then told off to go and search the 
tepees. At this time, Chief Big Foot was sick in his tent, 
and Colonel Forsyth, who had assumed command of the 
soldiers, sent his doctor to administer to the chief, and 
also provided him with a camp stove for his comfort, 
which was very nice of the colonel. 

While the soldiers were searching for fire arms, ran- 
sacking everywhere to the great disgust of the Indian 
ladies of the camp, a medicine man by the name of Yel- 
low Bird was walking around among the warrions, blow- 
ing on an eagle bone whistle, and telling them they ought 
to fight for their rights, that the bullets of the soldiers 
would be weak and not able to penetrate the ghost shirts 
which each warrior wore. If Yellow Bird really believed 
what he said, he was assuredly one of the most egotistical 
beings the Indian country ever saw, and that is saying a 
whole lot. As he spoke in Sioux the army officers did not 
understand what he was saying, and therefore did not 
realize how dangerous the old fellow was. Then as one 
of the searchers made an attempt to raise the blanket of 
one of the warriors. Yellow Bird picked up a handful 
of dust and threw it in the air, and immediately a young 
warrior drew his gun from under his blanket and fired 
upon the soldiers. Instantly they replied with a volley, 
and at once half that band of warriors lay a-dying. The 
survivors sprang to their feet, and for a few minutes 
there was a fierce hand to hand struggle. Most of the 
warriors had revolvers and knives under their blankets, 
and with the efficient war clubs, they succeeded in doing 



174 Thk Taminc. of tiik Sioux 

away with quite a number of llie soldiers — killing sixty. 

At the first shot, the four llotchkiss guns were turned 
loose on the Indian women and children who were gath- 
ered in front of the tepees to one side — out of harm's 
way — where they were watching the proceedings. As 
these guns poured in 2-])ound explosive shells at the rate 
of fifty a minute, it may be observed that they did very 
good execution. In a few minutes two hundred Indian 
men, women and children lay dead and dying on the field, 
and those who were still alive were running panic strick- 
en for the shelter of the ravine, pursued by hundreds 
of maddened soldiers. It is certain that the soldiers were 
blind Avitli rage over the treacherous act of the Indians 
and that they were not under the control of their officers. 
Colonel Forsyth had taken all precautions to guard 
against just such an affair by separating the women and 
children from the warriors, by giving strict orders to his 
men that no woman or child must be hurt, and they sim- 
ply took things in their own hands, and during the fracas 
even poor old Big Foot was killed. It was, in every re- 
spect, a most unfortunate affair. 

It was a strange coincidence that the famous Seventh 
Cavalry should again bear the brunt of the fighting with 
the Sioux. That this regiment was involved in the two 
most sanguinary battles of 1876 and 1890, is something 
hard to fathom, and no attempt will be made to do so 
here — they were there and that is all there is about it. 

When the news of the battle reached the large body of 
Indians at the Pine Ridge Agency, they were thrown into 
the wildest excitement, and a number of warriors started 



The; Battle op Wounded Knee 175 

out at once for the scene of the tight, where they attacked 
the soldiers as they were roaming over the field and com- 
pelled them to gather in the center of the field and throw 
up intrenchments from which to protect themselves. A 
large force of hostiles under Two Strike also opened fire 
on the agency, but the foolish Indian police stood them 
off gallantly, killing several, among whom were some of 
their own relatives. In this case, one's sympathies are 
bound to wander over to the side of the hostiles, and while 
the conduct of the Indian police was highly praiseworthy 
from the Avhiteman's viewpoint they must have been cor- 
dially hated for it by their own i^eople. Why they ever 
took sides with the whites remains a mystery until this 
day. 

Wlien the troops from Wounded Knee returned to the 
agency, almost the entire body of Indians broke away and 
fell back to a position on White Clay Creek, a few miles 
southwest of the agency, and the next day, which was 
December 30, 1890, there were encamped there 4.000 
Sioux, of whom 1,000 were in their war paint and their 
beads, and very hostile. They attacked a wagon train of 
the Ninth Cavalry, a negro regiment, and killed one little 
soldier, and were driven off with tlie loss of several of 
their number. 

On the following day — tlie last of the year — they set 
fire to several buildings, out toward the Catholic Mission, 
and Colonel Forysth was sent with eight troops of the 
reliable old Seventh to drive them away. As the troops 
approached, the hostiles fell back, and by occupying the 
hills round about, soon had the soldiers nearlv surround- 



176 The Taming of the; Sioux 

ed, aud Forsyth had to send back three times for rein- 
forcements, he needed them so bad. The Seventh was in 
trouble again, and if there had been about 2,000 more In- 
dians present, the Custer "massacre" would have been re- 
enacted there on the spot, and with no moving picture 
men in existence. As it was, Major Henry, with four 
more troops, went to their assistance and the Indians were 
driven off. 

New Years Day, 1891, was not so exciting — there was a 
herder killed near the agency, and a detachment of troops 
went out to bury the dead at AVounded Knee. Following 
the battle a heavy blizzard had set in, which lasted three 
days, aud the bodies were found frozen beneath the new 
snow. Several women and children were found still alive, 
but so badly wounded and frozen that most of them died 
after they were brought in to the agency. On the next 
day, the Indian agent reported that the school buildings 
and Episcopal church on White Clay Creek had been 
burned, aud that the Indians had captured the govern- 
ment beef herd and were utilizing it for food. 

General Miles then transferred his headquarters from 
Kapid City to Pine Ridge agency, and after the troops 
had had a few more small engagements with the Indians, 
he succeeded in throwing his men around the redmen in 
such a way that they could not move except in the direc- 
tion of the agency. Then he offered them every induce- 
ment to comes to terms of peace, and guaranteed that he 
would personally represent tlieir case to the government, 
with the end in view of obtaining for them all their treaty 
rights. They still remained obdurate, and it seemed that 



The: Bat'ixe of Woundeid Knke: 177 



they had surely lost all of their old time childlike con- 
fidence in the whiteman and his promises. But the friend- 
ly attitude of General Miles, coupled with his gentle assur- 
ance that furthei- resistance would be hopeless, tooether 
with the fact that the Indians were beginning to starve, 
brought about a culmination of circumstances which they 
were compelled to take cognizance of. And AA'hen, as a 
final, and most convincing step, all the civilian agents 
were removed from the sub-agencies on the reservation, 
and army officers put in charge, who were well known and 
respected by the Indians, they could not remain sulky and 
stubborn any longer. This was certainly heaping coals 
of fire on their luckless heads— that last act— and they 
at once moved into the agency and surrendered, on Janu- 
ary 16th. Thus ended the last real unpleasantness be- 
tween the Dakota Sioux and the whites. 




The; Sioux Indian of Today 



I7Q 



THE SIOUX INDIAN OF TODAY 

The Sioux Indian of this day is practically ii]»on the 
same footing as the progressive whiteman. He lias receiv- 
ed his allotment of land, consisting for each head of fam- 
ily, 640 acres; for the wife, 320 acres, and for each child 
or minor, 160 acres. Thus a man with a family of, say, ten 
children, has under his control, until they attain their 
majority, 2,560 acres — a nice little piece of territory worth 
125.00 the acre. 

When an Indian dies his land is put up for sale to the 
highest bidder, white or red, and the money derived there- 
from is divided among the rightful heirs, and in the case 
of non-competent Indians, it is held in trust by the govern- 
ment, and is doled out to them as seen fit by the officials 
in charge. If one of these fortunate Indians wishes to 
purchase a plow for spring work he goes to the superin- 
tendent in charge of the reservation and asks for the 
amount of money recjuired. The superintendent asks 
numerous questions pertaining to the case, and if he is 
favorable to the scheme, he signs the recpiisition and sends 
it to the Indian office in Washington. There are a large 
number of clerks in this office, and conse(]uently the ap- 
l)lication is somewhat delayed. If there were but lialf 
that number of clerks, action would be taken in just half 
the time, and conse(]uently the redman would get his 
money in time to l)iiy the plow for work that spring. As 



i8o The Taming op the Sioux 

it is he may get it some time during the summer or fall, 
and be thankful for that. In the case of such heirs as 
have severed their tribal relationship and have assumed 
full citizeusliip rights, the portion falling to them from 
the estate is turned over intact. 

It is the policy of the present administration to give all 
Indians who should be competent to manage their own 
affairs all their rights, making them bona fide citizens of 
the Thiited States. It is believed that they will become 
self-sufficient quicker by so doing than they will by hav- 
ing their affairs handled indefinitely by the government 
officials of good intentions. A Competenc}^ Commission 
has been appointed, the personnel of which is Major James 
McLaughlin, who during fourteen years of the early oc- 
cupation of their reservation by the then warlike Stand- 
ing Rock Sioux, did splendid work as Indian agent, and 
who is now the grand old man of Indian inspectors; and 
Mr. F. A. Thackery, a man also of long experience in In- 
dian work. lender date of May 20, 1916, the Sioux County 
Pioneer, published at Standing Rock, Fort Yates, N. D., 
had the following account of the ceremonies attendant up- 
on the conferring of citizenshi]) rights to competent 
Sioux : 

"At McLaughlin tomorrow. Major .lames Mcliaughlin 
of Washington, D. C, chairman of the com])etencv com- 
mission of the Indian Service, will hold the ceremony of 
conferring citizenshi]) u]h)ii tlio forty Indians of the 
Standing Rock reservation reconnuended by the commis- 
sion last year. Similar ceremonies liave been held during 
the i)ast month on the reservations through South Dakota, 



The Sioux Indian of Today [8i 

aud the following ceremony was carr-ied out by the Sec- 
retary of the Interior, who was present at the different 
points : 

"The Secretary told the Indians that the great white 
father had sent him to speak a serious and solemn word. 
Each chosen Indian was called from the crowd by his 
'white' name, and handed a bow and arrow and directed 
to shoot. 'You have shot your last arrow/ said the secre- 
tary. 'This means that you are to no longer liye the life 
of an Indian. You are from this day to live the life of 
a whiteman. But 3^ou may keep the arrow; it will be a 
symbol of your noble race, and of the pride you feel that 
you came »fi'om the first of all Americans.' ( Not George 
Washington, F. F.) 

"Calling the Indian again by his white name (which 
may haye iK^en, Wishes Himself Back Home, F. F.), the 
secretary had him stand by a plow and told him of the 
necessity of labor. A purse, in order that the 'wise man 
can save his money so that when the sun does not shine, 
and the grass does not grow he will not starve,' (grass is 
very good eating when there is noi"hing else in the liouse, 
Anon.) and a badge of American citizenship and a flag 
were given each new citizen. Women were given a work 
bag and a purse. (There was no money in the purses, 
however, Anon. ) 

"With the acceptance of citizenship the Indian is given 
patent in fee to all land alloted liim, and assumes full 
and complete control over his own affairs, and his status 
in the community becomes the same as that of his wliite 
brothers." 



i82 Thiv Taming of the Sioux 

Tliis ex})erinieiit is beiiij*' wat('lie<l witli interest bv all 
who wish to see the Indian become self-siipixn-ting. 

According to a recent report of the Commissioner of In- 
dian Aifairs, Cato Sells, to the Secretary of the Interior, 
the original tribes of the Dakota Sioux are distributed 
as follows : 

In South Dakota : Minnesota Santees, at Flandreau, 
2<S2. Sissetons in Roberts and Marshall counties. 2,053. 
Yanktons in Charles Mix county, 1,844; Brules at Rose- 
bud, r),r)ll) ; Lower lirules at Lower Brule agency, 4S1. 
Lower Yanktonais at Crow Creek, 955. The Oglalas and 
some Minneconjous at Pine Ridge, 7,240. The T\vf> Ket- 
tles, San Arcs, and the rest of the Minneconjous at Chey- 
enne agency, 2,708. The Minnesota Santees in Nebraska, 
1,508. The Blackfeet and Ciicpapas with a few Upper 
Yanktonais and San Arcs on Standing Rock reservation 
in North and South Dakota, 3,434. The main body of the 
T'p])er Yanktonais and Avhat is left of Inkpaduta's wild 
Santees at Fort Reck, Montana, 1,943 strong, and the Cut 
Head Yanktonais and Sissetons who fled to Canada dur- 
ing the outbreak of 1802, are now at Fort Totten, on the 
Devils Lake to the number of 999. The total nund)er l)e- 
ing 28,90(5 ])eace-loving and law-abiding Sioux. 

There are now in opei-ation seven non-reservation 
schools witii a lotal enrollment of 1,724 ])U])ils, at the 
following iM)iiils: r>ismarck and >Vahpclon. N. 1).; Flan- 
<lreau, Fierre, Rapid City and Si)ringlield, S. 1)., and 
(Jenoa, Neb. (Iraduates from these schools and the lar- 
ger boarding schools on the reservations may take ad- 
vance(l courses at I lie big Indian schools at Carlisle, Ra., 



The Sioux Indian of Today 



Haskell, Kan., and Cliilocco, Okla. Besides the above 
named schools there are denominational schools on all 
the reservations nnder management of Catholics, Episco- 
palians, Presbyterians and Congregationalists, and there 
are eleven non-sectarian boarding schools and sixty-two 
day schools nnder the management of civil service em- 
ployes, the total enrollment being 4,051 pupils, and still 
there are some of tlie Sionx who come very near to being 
illiterate. 

The Indian department is encouraging the holding of 
agricultural fairs at the principal agencies, wliich tends 
to stimulate a spirit of rivalry between the Indians in the 
matter of producing fine vegetables, various breeds of 
stock and sundry industrial articles. The Indians also 
attend the whiteman's county fairs held near tlie reserva- 
tions, and during the pretty fall months they have a fine 
time moving from town to town and camping out under 
the blue dome of heaven. The trouble is that the whole 
family must go along, and the home place is deserted for 
two or three weeks, and things there just have to natur- 
ally look out for themselves. But as time wears away into 
the long years, the Indians may take life more seriously 
and manage their pleasure trips differently. 

Leaving home during the fall months to attend these 
fairs is not quite so bad as leaving home during the pro- 
ductive months of summer to gather at the many religious 
cam])-nieetings that are held on the reservations each 
year. The Indian can stand a great deal more honest re- 
ligion than he has — a better understanding of the intents 
and purposes of the Ten Commandments — but if lie is 



184 The: Taming of the: Sioux 

benefited in this line by his attendance at these meetings 
the fact is mighty hard to determine. 

The persistent fight of the Indian dei)artmeiit against 
the introdnction of intoxicating licinor into the Indian 
country is to be highly commended, and should be en- 
couraged and aided to the fullest extent by the whites 
who live on and near the reservations, for if the Indian 
was allowed full rein in this matter it would not be long 
before he would be real eleemosynary, to say the least. 

The problem before us, gentlemen, is to teach the In- 
dian how to work for his own best interests, and to save 
him from his riches. But, it cannot be overlooked that it 
seems incongruous to force anyone to work hard for a 
living who is fixed well enough to take life easy. It is 
reversing the general order of things, for the whiteman 
strives mightily during the greater portion of his life to 
lay by enough so that he can get along some day Avithout 
the necessity of working from daylight until dark, and 
here is Mr. Indian with plenty to live on, if it is? handled 
properly, being asked to go to work to earn his living by 
the sweat of his handsome brow. It surely is a great 
(juestion. 

As it is, the Indian is not worrying very much about 
it. He takes life easy, arising early and watering the 
horses at the creek or river, and taking a look at the lit- 
tle garden to see how the weeds are getting along, and 
if there is no religious meeting to entice him away, he may 
get a little work done during the day, if it is not too 
warm. Of course the foregoing does not apply to all, 
and I am ])loased to say that there are several of the more 



Thk Sioux Indian of Today 185 

progressive Indians who are falling in line with the white 
settlers on the reservations, and are each year breaking 
more ground and putting in more acres to crop, so that it 
is but a matter of time until the Indians as a whole will 
be as industrious and business like as the average white- 
man. 

It is still a hard matter for the old Indians to get awav 
from their dear past, and when evening comes they love 
to tell stories of the early day, and croon the old dance 
and love songs as the moon mounts to high heaven, and 
the coyotes howl far oft" in the foot hills, and tlie smoke 
from the slanting stovepipe above the roof of the log cabin 
rises lazily in the calm air. But again the ])icture is a 
bit overdrawn, for all of the Sioux do not live in log cab- 
ins now. Many have neat little frame dwellings and big 
red frame barns on their allotments, and fences and farm- 
ing machinery scattered ])romiscuously about the prem- 
ises. Still, if one cares to take the trouble to (juietly ap- 
proach one of these modern homes on a moonlight night, 
or any other night, without stirring up a great commo- 
tion among the faithful >\atch dogs, he may hear the low 
chanting of several voices singing the native songs to 
the accompaniment of the small hand or medicine drum. 
There is a gentle and sweet romance for these people in 
thus bringing up the past, and the tra<litions of the tribe 
are lovingly clung to in a manner that is hard to under- 
stand by the average unimaginative and ultra-i)ractical 
whiteman. 

When the long months of winter are upon the land, the 
Sioux have little to do l)ut feed and water the stock, and 



i86 



The Taming of the Sioux 



maybe do a little freighting, and take an occasional trip 
to the agency. To one who is accnstomed to city life, with 
all its multitudinous forms of entertainment, the life of 
the Indian, during this cold season, must seem very dull 
and monotonous. But when spring comes we always 
find these good-natured people as happy as at the begin- 
ning of winter, and not at all dissatisfied with their lot in 
life, aside from their little differences with the Indian 
department that have occupied their attention since time 
immemorial. 

So, from a dashing, fighting, romantic, primordial peo- 
ple, the Sioux have become a most tractable and serious- 
minded body of home-lovers. And from now on the his- 
tory of this once great nation promises to be very prosaic 
and uninteresting, indeed. 



The End 




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